./ 

yi 


"LI  E>  RA  R.Y 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY 

or  ILLINOIS 


Id.  HIST.  SURVEY 


*•'*•  ••'» 

*        ,  f      <. 


-: 
I*. .  *Jfc 


COTTON  IS  KING: 


J       * 

'  * 


CULTURE    OF    COTTON,    AND   ITS    RELATION     TO 


woifedurts  anb  (tmnum; 


FREE   COLORED  PEOPLE;   AND   TO   THOSE    WHO    HOLD 
THAT   SLAVERY   IS   IN   ITSELF    SINFUL 


BY   AN   AMERICAN. 

* 


CINCINNATI: 

MOORE,   WILSTACH,   KEYS&  CO., 
25  WEST  FOURTH  STREET. 

1855. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1855,  by 
STOORE,    WILSTACH,   KEYS   &   CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern 
District  of  OHIO. 


WM.  OVKREND  &  CO.,  PRINTERS, 


PREFACE. 


IN  the  preparation  of  the  following  pages,  the 
Author  has  aimed  at  clearness  of  statement,  rather 
than  elegance  of  diction.  He  sets  up  no  claim  to 
literary  'distinction;  and,  even  if  he  did,  every  man 

00  of  classical  taste  knows,  that  a  work,  abounding  in 
facts  and  statistics,  affords  little  opportunity  for  any 
display  of  literary  ability. 

The  greatest  care  has  been  taken,  by  the  Author, 

q.  to  secure  perfect  accuracy  in  the  statistical  informa- 
tion supplied  and  in  all  the  facts  stated. 

The  authorities  consulted,  are  Brande's  Diction- 
ary of  Science,  Literature  and  Art  ;  Porter's  Progress 

c*  of  the  British  Nation  ;  McCullough's  Commercial 
Dictionary;  Encyclopaedia  Americana  ;  London  Econ- 
omist; De  Bow's  Keview;  Patent  Office  Keports; 


Congressional  Eeports  on  Commerce  and  Navigation  ; 
Abstract  of  the  Census  Eeports,  1850  ;  and  Compen- 
dium of  the  Census  Keports.  The  extracts  from  the 


IV  PREFACE. 

Debates  in  Congress,  on  the   Tariff  Question,  are 
copied  from  the  National  Intelligencer. 

The  tabular  statements  appended,  bring  together 
the  principal  facts,  belonging  to  the  questions  exam- 
ined, in  such  manner,  that  their  relations  to  each 
other  can  be  seen  at  a  glance. 

The  first  of  these  Tables,  shows  the  date  of  the 
origin  of  Cotton  Manufactories  in  England,  and  the 
amount  of  Cotton  annually  consumed,  down  to  1853  ; 
the  origin  and  amount  of  the  exports  of  Cotton 
from  the  United  States  to  Europe ;  the  sources  of 
England's  supplies  of  Cotton,  from  countries  other 
than  the  United  States ;  the  dates  of  the  discoveries 
which  have  promoted  the  production  and  manufac- 
ture of  Cotton ;  the  commencement  of  the  movements 
made  to  meliorate  the  condition  of  the  African  race ; 
and  the  occurrence  of  events  that  have  increased  the 
value  of  slavery  and  led  to  its  extension. 

The  second  and  third  of  the  tables,  relate  to  the 
exports  and  imports  of  the  United  States ;  and  illus- 
trate the  relations  sustained  by  slavery,  to  the  other 
industrial  interests  and  the  cqmmerce  of  the  coun- 
try. 


CONTENTS. 


PREFACE 3 

INTRODUCTION — Character  of  the  Slavery  controversy  in  the 
United  States — In  Great  Britain — Its  influence  in  modi- 
fying the  policy  of  Anti-slavery  men  in  America — Course 
of  the  Churches — Political  Parties — Review  of  the  move- 
ment in  behalf  of  the  African  race, 9 

L 

Emancipation  in  the  United  States — First  Abolition  Society 
organized — Progress  of  Emancipation — Elements  of  Sla- 
very expansion — Franklin's  Appeal — Condition  of  Free 
Colored  People — Suppression  of  the  Slave  Trade — Organ- 
ization of  the  American  Colonization  Society — Its  objects 
and  policy — First  Emigrants — Emigrants  to  Hayti — 
Value  of  Slave  labor  in  the  South — Warfare  against  Colo- 
nization— Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison,  James  G.  Birney,  Gerritt 
Smith— Effect  of  Opposition— Exports  of  Cotton— Politi- 
cal action —  Effect  of  Anti-slavery  action — Fred.  Dou- 
glass  ..13 


VI  CONTENTS. 

n. 

Present  relations  of  American  Slavery  to  the  Industrial  in- 
terests of  the  country — Present  condition  of  Slavery — 
Manufacture  of  Cotton — Fusion  of  Interests — Census 
returns  of  1850 — Products  of  United  States — Thompson's 
predictions — Exports  of  Cotton — Imports — Slave  labor — 
Hon.  Henry  Clay— Protective  Tariff— Mr.  Hayne  of  South 
Carolina — Mr.  Govan — Carter — Martindale — Buchanan 
— McDuffie— Hamilton  —  Rankin  —  Garnett  —  Cuthbert 
— Wickliffe — Benton — Results  of  the  contest  on  Protec- 
tion and  Free  Trade — Consumption  of  Cotton — Western 
Trade — Monopoly  of  Foreign  MarketSr^Tripartlte  Alli- 
ance— Nebraska  bill — -Value  of  foreign  articles  in  1853 — 
Statistics — Slavery  not  self-sustaining — Annexation  of 
Texas — War  with  Mexico— Limits  of  the  Controversy  on 
Slavery , 36 

III. 

Social  and  moral  condition  of  the  Free  people  of  Color  in  the 
British  colonies — In  the  United  States — Hostility  of 
Abo'lcionists  to  the  Colonization  cause — Sentiments  of 
the  Colonizationists— Canada  colonization — Results  — 
Testimony  of  American  Missionary  Association — Mis- 
sions in  Jamaica — Report  of  the  American  and  Foreign 
Anti-Slavery  Society — Moral  condition  of  Colored  People 
in  the  West  Indies — London  Times — Gov.  Wood's  Testi- 
mony in  regard  to  Kingston  and  Jamaica — Who  are  the 
friends  of  the  Slave  ? — Republic  of  Liberia — Testimony 
of  Abolitionists  in  relation  to  the  results  of  their  own 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

policy— Hon.  Gerritt  Smith— Gov.  Hunt  of  New  York- 
Logical  conclusion — Important  discrimination — Enlight- 
enment of  the  Free  Colored  population  of  the  United 
States — Disappointment  of  Abolitionists — Miserable 
Subterfuge — True  cause  of  African  degradation — Jay's 
inquiry  —  Effect  of  Colonization  —  American  Reform 
Tract  and  Book  Society — Tract  on  Colonization — Popu- 
lation of  Colored  People  in  the  Sugar  and  Cotton  States — 
Practical  results  of  Abolition  policy — Liberia,  the  field  for 
the  moral  and  intellectual  advancement  of  the  Colored 
man — The  four  great  leading  denominations,  pledged  to 
the  support  of  its  educational  and  religious  institu- 
tions  , 130 

IV. 

Moral  relations  of  Slavery — Relations  which  the  consumer 
of  Slave-labor  products  sustains  to  Slavery — Great  error 
of  all  Anti-slavery  effort — Design  of  the  Abolition  move- 
ment— Law  ofparticeps  criminis — Speech  of  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell — Malum  in  se  doctrine — English  Emancipationists — 
Commercial  argument — Difference  between  the  Govern- 
ments of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States — Consist- 
ency of  British  Manufacturers — Classification  of  opin- 
ions in  the  United  States,  in  regard  to  the  morality  of 
the  institution  of  Slavery — World's  Christian  Evangeli- 
cal Alliance — The  Scotchman — Effect  of  the  adoption  of 
the  per  se  doctrine  by  ecclesiastical  bodies — Denunciation 
— King  Cotton — Quadruple  alliance — Divine  right  of 
Kings  —  Extreme  parties  harmonizing  —  Treatment  of 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

Slaves  by  their  masters — Tribute  to  Caesar — Bible  in 

Common  Schools — Palladium  of  American  Liberty,.  .162 

CONCLUSION 184 

APPENDIX. 

STATISTICS — Growth,  manufacture  and  influence  of  Cotton 
on  Commerce,  Slavery,  Emancipation,  etc.,  chronologi- 
cally arranged — Great  Britain — Annual  imports  and 
consumption  of  Cotton,  from  the  earliest  dates  to  1853 — 
United  States  —  Annual  exports  of  Cotton  to  Great 
Britain  and  Europe  generally — Great  Britain's  sources 
of  supplies — West  Indies  —  South  America — Countries 
around  the  Eastern  part  of  the  Mediterranean — British 
West  Indies — French  and  Spanish  Colonies — Dutch — 
Portuguese — Turkey  and  Smyrna — Brazil — Dates  of  In- 
ventions for  promoting  the  growth  and  manufacture  of 
Cotton — Movements  for  the  elevation  of  the  African  race 
— Tabular  statement  of  Agricultural  products,  and  the 
products  of  Domestic  Animals  exported  from  the  United 
States — Total  value  of  products  and  animals  raised  in 
the  country — Home  consumption  and  use — Total  imports 
of  the  more  prominent  Groceries  for  the  year  1853 — Re- 
exports— Proportion  of  from  Slave-labor  countries,.  .202 


COTTON     IS    KING. 


THE  controversy  on  SLAVERY  in  the  United 
States,  has  been  one  of  an  exciting  and  com- 
plicated character.  The  power  to  emancipate 
existing,  in  fact,  in  the  States  separately,  and 
not  in  the  General  Government,  the  efforts  to 
abolish  it,  by  appeals  to  public  opinion,  have 
been  fruitless,  except  when  confined  to  single 
States.  In  Great  Britain,  the  question  was 
simple.  The  power  to  abolish  Slavery  in  her 
West  Indian  colonies  was  vested  in  Parliament. 
To  agitate  the  people  of  England,  and  call  out 
a  full  expression  of  sentiment,  was  to  control 
Parliament,  and  secure  its  abolition.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  English  Abolitionists,  in  the  employ- 
ment of  moral  force,  had  a  powerful  influence 
1 


*  * 

•  *       '*' 

10  COTTON   IS   KING. 

in  modifying  the  policy  of  American  Anti- 
slavery  men.  Failing  to  discern  the  difference 
in  the  condition  of  the  two  countries,  they 
attempted  to  create  a  public  sentiment  through- 
out the  United  States,  adverse  to  Slavery,  in 
the  confident  expectation  of  speedily  overthrow- 
ing the  institution.  The  issue  taken,  that 
Slavery  is  malum  in  se — a  sin  in  itself — was 
prosecuted  with  all  the  zeal  and  eloquence  they 
could  command.  Churches,  adopting  the  per  se 
doctrine,  inquired  of  their  converts,  not  whether 
they  supported  Slavery,  by  the  use  of  its  pro- 
ducts, but  whether  they  believed  the  institution 
itself  sinful.  Could  public  sentiment  be  brought 
to  assume  the  proper  ground ;  could  the  Slave- 
holder be  convinced  that  the  world  denounced 
him  as  equally  criminal  with  the  robber  and 
murderer;  then,  it  was  believed,  he  would 
abandon  the  system.  Political  parties,  sub- 
sequently organized,  taught,  that  to  vote  for  a 
Slaveholder,  or  a  Pro-slavery  man,  was  sinful, 
and  could  not  be  done  without  violence  to  con- 
science ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  they  made  no 
scruples  of  using  the  products  of  Slave  labor — 


COTTON  IS  KING.  11 

the  exorbitant  demand  for  which  was  the  great 
bulwark  of  the  institution.  This  was  a  radical 
error.  It  laid  all  who  adopted  it  open  to  the 
charge  of  practical  inconsistency,  and  left  them 
without  any  moral  power  over  the  consciences 
of  others.  As  long  as  all  used  their  products, 
so  long  the  Slaveholders  found  the  per  se  doc- 
trine working  them  no  harm ;  as  long  as  no 
provision  was  made  for  supplying  the  demand 
for  tropical  products,  by  free  labor,  so  long 
there  was  no  risk  in  extending  the  field  of 
their  operations.  Thus,  the  very  things  neces- 
sary to  the  overthrow  of  American  Slavery, 
were  left  undone,  while  those  essential  to  its 
prosperity,  were  continued  in  the  most  active 
operation ;  so  that,  now,  after  nearly  a  "  thirty 
years'  war/7  we  may  say,  emphatically,  COTTON 
IS  KING,  and  his  enemies  are  vanquished. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  due  to  the 
age — to  the  friends  of  humanity — to  the  cause 
of  liberty — to  the  "  safety  of  the  Union  " — 
that  we  should  review  the  movements  made  in 
behalf  of  the  African  race,  in  our  country  ;  so 
that  errors  of  principle  may  be  abandoned ; 


1'2  COTTON  IS  KING. 

mistakes  in  policy  corrected  ;  incompetent  lead- 
ers discharged ;  the  free  colored  people  induced 
to  change  their  relations  to  the  industrial 
interests  of  the  world ;  the  rights  of  the  slave, 
as  well  as  the  master,  secured ;  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  Constitution  established  and 
revered.  We  propose,  therefore,  to  examine 
this  subject,  as  it  stands  connected  with  the 
history  of  our  country ;  and  especially  to  afford 
some  light  to  the  free  colored  man,  on  the  true 
relations  he  sustains  to  African  Slavery,  and  to 
the  redemption  of  his  race.  The  facts  and 
arguments  we  propose  to  offer,  will  be  embraced 
under  the  following  heads : 

I.  The  circumstances  under  which  the  Amer- 
ican Colonization    Society   took   its   rise;    the 
relations  it   sustained   to  Slavery,  and  to  the 
schemes  projected  for  its  abolition;  the  origin 
of  the  elements  which  have  given  to  American 
Slavery  its  commercial  value,  and  consequent 
powers   of  expansion;  and   the   futility  of  the 
means   used  to  prevent   the   extension  of  the 
institution. 

II.  The  present  relations  of  American  Slav- 


COTTON  IS  KING.  13 

ery  to  the  Industrial  interests  of  our  own 
country ;  to  the  demands  of  Commerce ;  and  to 
the  present  Political  crisis. 

III.  The  social  and  moral  condition  of  the 
free  colored  people  in  the  British  Colonies,  and 
in  the  United  States  ;  and  the  new  field  open- 
ing in  Liheria,  for  the  display  of  their  powers. 

IV.  The  moral  relations  of  persons  holding 
the  per  se  doctrine,  on  the  subject  of  Slavery,  to 
the  purchase  and  consumption  of  Slave  labor 
products. 

1.  Four  years  after  the  Declaration  of  Amer- 
ican Independence,  Pennsylvania  and  Massa- 
chusetts had  emancipated  their  slaves ;  and, 
eight  years  thereafter,  Connecticut  and  Khode 
Island  followed  their  example. 

Three  years  after  the  last-named  event,  an 
Aboliticm  Society  was  organized  by  the  citizens 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  with  JOHN  JAY  at  its 
head.  Two  years  subsequently,  the  Pennsyl- 
vanians  did  the  same  thing,  electing  BENJAMIN 
FKANKLIN  to  the  presidency  of  their  association. 
The  same  year,  too,  Slavery  was  forever  ex- 


14  COTTON  IS  KING. 

eluded,  by  Act  of  Congress,  from  the  North- 
west territory. 

During  the  year  that  the  New  York  Aboli- 
tion Society  was  formed,  WATTS,  of  England, 
had  so  far  perfected  the  steam  engine  as  to  use 
it  in  propelling  machinery  for  spinning  cotton  ; 
and  the  year  the  Pennsylvania  Society  was  or- 
ganized, witnessed  the  invention  of  the  Power 
Loom.  The  Carding  Machine  and  the  Spinning 
Jenny  having  been  invented  twenty  years 
before,  the  Power  Loom  completed  the  ma- 
chinery necessary  to  the  indefinite  extension  of 
the  manufacture  of  cotton. 

The  work  of  emancipation,  begun  by  the 
four  States  named,  continued  to  progress,  so 
that,  in  seventeen  years  from  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
New  York,  and  New  Jersey,  had  also  enacted 
laws,  to  free  themselves  from  the  burden  of 
Slavery. 

As  the  work  of  manumission  proceeded,  the 
elements  of  Slavery  expansion  were  multiplied. 
When  the  four  States  first  named  liberated 


COTTON  IS   KING.  15 

their  slaves,  no  regular  exports  of  cotton  to 
Europe  had  yet  commenced ;  and  the  year  New 
Hampshire  set  hers  free,  only  138,328  pounds 
of  that  article  were  shipped  from  the  country. 
Simultaneously  with  the  action  of  Vermont,  in 
the  year  following,  the  Cotton  Gin  was  invented, 
and  an  unparalleled  impulse  given  to  the  culti" 
vation  of  cotton.  At  the  same  time,  Louisiana, 
with  her  immense  territory,  was  added  to  the 
Union,  and  room  for  the  extension  of  Slavery 
vastly  increased.  New  York  lagged  behind 
Vermont  for  six  years,  before  taking  her  first 
step  to  free  her  slaves,  when  she  found  the 
exports  of  cotton  to  England  had'  reached 
9,500,000  pounds ;  and  New  Jersey,  still  more 
tardy,  fell  five  years  behind  New  York  ;  at 
which  time  the  exports  of  that  staple  —  so 
rapidly  had  its  cultivation  progressed,  were 
augmented  to  38,900,000  pounds. 

Four  years  after  the  emancipations,  by  States, 
had  ceased,  the  Slave  trade  was  prohibited ;  but, 
as  if  each  movement  for  freedom  must  have  its 
counter-movement  to  stimulate  Slavery,  that 
same  year  the  manufacture  of  cotton  goods  was 


16  COTTON   IS   KING. 

commenced  in  Boston.  Two  years  after  that 
event,  the  exports  of  cotton  amounted  to  93,900,- 
000  Ibs.  War  with  Great  Britain,  soon  after- 
ward, checked  both  our  exports  and  her  manu- 
facture of  the  article;  but  the  year  1817, 
memorable  in  this  connection,  from  its  being 
the  date  of  the  organization  of  the  Colonization 
Society,  found  our  exports  augmented  t9  95,- 
660,000  Ibs.,  and  her  consumption  enlarged  to 
126,240,000  Ibs.  Carding  and  spinning  machin- 
ery had  now  reached  a  good  degree  of  perfection, 
and  the  power-loom  was  brought  into  general 
use  in  England,  and  was  also  introduced  into 
the  United  States.  Steamboats,  too,  were  com- 
ing into  use,  in  both  countries ;  and  great  activ- 
ity prevailed  in  commerce,  manufactures,  and 
the  cultivation  of  cotton. 

But  how  fared  it  with  the  free  colored  people, 
during  all  this  time  ?  We  must  revert  to  the 
days  of  the  Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society,  to 
obtain  a  true  answer  to  this  question. 

With  freedom  to  the  slave,  came  anxieties 
among  the  whites  as  to  the  results.  Nine  years 
after  Pennsylvania  and  Massachusetts  had  taken 


COTTON  IS  KING.  17 

the  lead  in  the  trial  of  emancipation,  FRANKLIN 
issued  an  Appeal  for  aid  to  enable  his  Society  to 
form  a  plan  for  the  promotion  of  industry,  intel- 
ligence, and  morality  among  the  free  blacks ; 
and  he  zealously  urged  the  measure  on  public 
attention,  as  essential  to  their  well-being,  and 
indispensable  to  the  safety  of  society.  He 
expressed  his  belief,  that  such  is  the  debasing 
influence  of  Slavery  on  human  nature,  that  its 
very  extirpation,  if  not  performed  with  care, 
may  sometimes  open  a  source  of  serious  evils ; 
and  that  so  far  as  emancipation  should  be  pro- 
moted by  the  Society,  it  was  a  duty  incumbent 
on  its  members  to  instruct,  to  advise,  to  qualify 
those  restored  to  freedom,  for  the  exercise  and 
enjoyment  of  civil  liberty. 

How  far  Franklin's  influence  failed  to  pro- 
mote the  humane  object  he  had  in  view,  maybe 
inferred  from  the  fact,  that  forty-seven  years 
after  Pennsylvania  struck  off  the  shackles  from 
her  slaves,  and  thirty-eight  after  he  issued  his 
Appeal,  one-third  of  the  convicts  in  her  peniten- 
tiary were  colored  men,  while  few  of  the  other 
free  States  were  more  fortunate ;  and  some  of 


18  COTTON  IS  KING. 

them  even  worse — one-half  of  New  Jersey's  con- 
victs being  colored  men.0 

Had  the  freedmen,  in  the  Northern  States,  im- 
proved their  privileges  ;  had  they  established  a 
reputation  for  industry,  integrity,  and  virtue, 
far  other  consequences  would  have  followed 
their  emancipation.  Their  advancement  in 
moral  character,  would  have  put  to  shame  the 
advocate  for  the  perpetuation  of  Slavery.  In- 
deed, there  could  have  been  no  plausible  argu- 
ment found  for  its  continuance.  No  regular 
exports  of  cotton,  no  cultivation  of  cane  sugar 
(to  give  a  profitable  character  to  Slave  labor), 
had  any  existence  when  JAY  and  FKANKLIN  com- 
menced their  labors,  and  when  Congress  took 
its  first  step  for  the  suppression  of  the  Slave 
trade. 

Unfortunately,  the  free  colored  people  perse- 
vered in  their  evil  habits.  This  not  only  served 
to  fix  their  own  social  and  political  condition  on 
the  level  of  the  slave,  but  it  reacted  with  fearful 
effect  upon  their  brethren  remaining  in  bond- 
age. Their  refusing  to  listen  to  the  counsel  of 

°See  Boston  Prison  Discipline  Society's  Reports,  1826-7. 


COTTON  IS  KING.  19 

the  philanthropists,  who  urged  them  to  forsake 
their  indolence  and  vice,  and  their  frequent  vio- 
lations of  the  laws,  more  than  all  things  else, 
put  a  check  to  the  tendencies,  in  public  senti- 
ment, toward  general  emancipation.  The  fail- 
ure of  FRANKLIN'S  plan  for  their  elevation, 
confirmed  the  popular  belief,  that  such  an  under- 
taking was  impracticable ;  and  the  whole  Afri- 
can race,  freedmen  as  well  as  slaves,  were  viewed 
as  an  intolerable  burden — such  as  the  imports 
of  foreign  paupers  are  now  considered.  Thus 
the  free  colored  people  themselves,  ruthlessly 
threw  the  car  of  emancipation  from  the  track, 
and  tore  up  the  rails  upon  which,  alone,  it  could 
move. 

The  opinion  that  the  African  race  would  be- 
come a  growing  burden  had  its  origin  long 
before  the  Revolution,  and  led  the  colonists  to 
oppose  the  introduction  of  slaves ;  but,  failing 
in  this,  through  the  opposition  of  England,  as 
soon  as  they  threw  off  the  foreign  yoke,  many 
of  the  States  at  once  crushed  the  system — among 
the  first  acts  of  sovereignty  by  Virginia,  being 
the  prohibition  of  the  Slave  trade.  In  the  deter- 


20  COTTON   IS  KING. 

urination  to  suppress  this  traffic  all  the  States 
united — but  in  emancipation  their  policy  dif- 
fered. It  was  found  easier  to  manage  the  slaves 
than  the  free  blacks — at  least  it  was  claimed  to 
be  so — and,  for  this  reason,  the  Slave  States, 
not  long  after  the  others  had  completed  their 
work  of  manumission,  proceeded  to  enact  laws  pro- 
hibiting emancipations,  except  on  condition  that 
the  persons  liberated  should  be  removed.  The 
newly  organized  Free  States,  too,  taking  alarm 
at  this,  and  dreading  the  influx  of  the  free 
colored  people,  adopted  measures  to  prevent  the 
ingress  of  this  proscribed  and  helpless  race. 

These  movements,  so  distressing  to  the  reflect- 
ing colored  man,  be  it  remembered,  were  not 
the  effect  of  the  action  of  Colonizationists,  but 
took  place,  mostly,  long  before  the  organization 
of  the  American  Colonization  Society ;  and, 
at  its  first  annual  meeting,  the  importance 
and  humanity  of  colonization  was  strongly 
urged,  on  the  very  ground  that  the  Slave  States, 
as  soon  as  they  should  find  that  the  persons  lib- 
erated could  be  sent  to  Africa,  would  relax 
their  laws  against  emancipation. 


COTTON   IS   KING.  21 

The  slow  progress  made  by  the  great  body  of 
the  free  blacks  in  the  North,  or  the  absence, 
rather,  of  any  evidences  of  improvement  in  in- 
dustry, intelligence,  and  morality,  gave  rise  to 
the  notion,  that  before  they  could  be  elevated  to 
an  equality  with  the  whites,  Slavery  must  be 
wholly  abolished  throughout  the  Union.  The 
constant  ingress  of  liberated  slaves  from  the 
South,  to  commingle  with  the  free  colored  peo- 
ple of  the  North,  tended  to  perpetuate  the  low 
moral  standard  originally  existing  among  the 
blacks  ;  and  universal  emancipation  was  believed 
to  be  indispensable  to  the  elevation  of  the  race. 
Those  who  adopted  this  view,  seem  to  have  over- 
looked the  fact,  that  the  Africans,  of  savage 
origin,  could  not  be  elevated  at  once  to  an  equal- 
ity with  the  American  people,  by  the  mere  force 
of  legal  enactments.  More  than  this  was  needed, 
for  their  elevation,  as  all  are  now,  reluctantly, 
compelled  to  acknowledge. 

The  Slave  States  adopted  opinions,  as  to  the 
negro  character,  opposite  to  those  of  the  Free 
States,  and  would  not  risk  the  experiment  of 
emancipation.  They  said,  if  the  Free  States  feel 


22  COTTON   IS   KING. 

themselves  burdened  by  the  few  persons,  of  Afri- 
can descent,  they  have  freed,  and  find  it  imprac- 
ticable to  educate  and  elevate,  how  much  greater 
would  be  the  evil  the  Slave  States  must  bring 
upon  themselves,  by  letting  loose  a  population 
nearly  twelve  times  as  numerous.  Such  an  act, 
they  argued,  would  be  suicidal — it  would  crush 
out  all  progress  in  civilization  ;  or,  in  the  effort 
to  elevate  the  negro  with  the  white  man — allow- 
ing him  equal  freedom  of  action — would  be  to 
make  the  more  energetic  Anglo-Saxon  the  slave 
of  the  indolent  African.  Such  a  task,  onerous 
in  the  highest'degree,  they  could  not,  and  would 
not  undertake — such  an  experiment,  on  their 
social  system,  they  dared  not  hazard. 

Another  question,  "  How  shall  the  Slave  trade 
be  suppressed?  began  to  be  agitated  near  the 
close  of  the  last  century.  The  moral  desolation 
existing  in  Africa,  was  without  a  parallel  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  When  the  last  of  our 
Northern  States  had  freed  its  slaves,  not  a 
single  Christian  Church  had  been  successfully 
established  in  Africa,  and  the  Slave  trade  was 
still  legalized  to  the  citizens  of  every  Christian 


COTTON   IS    KING.  23 

nation.  Even  its  subsequent  prohibition,  by  the 
United  States  and  England,  had  no  tendency  to 
check  the  traffic,  nor  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
the  African.  .  The  other  European  powers,  hav- 
ing now  the  monopoly  of  the  trade,  continued 
to  prosecute  it  with  a  vigor  it  never  felt  before. 
The  institution  of  Slavery,  while  lessened  in  the 
United  States,  where  it  had  not  yet  been  made 
profitable,  was  rapidly  acquiring  an  unprece- 
dented enlargement  in  Cuba  and  Brazil,  where 
its  profitable  character  had  been  more  fully 
realized.  How  shall  the  Slave  trade  be  anni- 
hilated, Slavery  extension  prevented,  and  Africa 
receive  a  Christian  civilization  ?  were  questions 
that  agitated  the  bosom  of  many  a  philanthro- 
pist, long  after  WILBBRFOECE  had  achieved  his 
triumphs. 

At  this  period  in  the  history  of  Africa,  and  of 
public  sentiment  on  Slavery,  the  American 
Colonization  Society  was  organized.  It  began 
its  labors  when  the  eye  of  the  statesman,  the 
philanthropist,  and  the  Christian,  could  discover 
no  other  plan  of  overcoming  the  moral  desola- 
tion, the  universal  oppression,  of  the  colored 


24  COTTON   IS  KING. 

race,  than  by  restoring  the  most  enlightened  of 
their  number  to  Africa  itself.  Emancipation, 
by  States,  had  been  at  an  end  for  a  dozen  of 
years.  The  improvement  of  the  free  colored 
people,  in  the  presence  of  the  slave,  was  consid- 
ered impracticable.  Slave  labor  had  become  so 
profitable,  as  to  leave-  little  ground  to  expect 
general  emancipation,  even  though  all  other 
objections  had  been  removed.  The  Slave  trade 
had  increased  twenty-five  per  cent,  during  the 
preceding  ten  years.  Slavery  was  rapidly  ex- 
tending itself  in  the  tropics,  and  could  not  be 
arrested  but  by  the  suppression  of  the  Slave 
trade.  The  foothold  of  the  Christian  mission- 
ary was  yet  so  precarious  in  Africa,  as  to 
leave  it  doubtful  whether  he  could  sustain  his 
position. 

The  Colonization  of  the  free  colored  people 
in  Africa,  under  the  teachings  of  the  Christian 
men  who  were  prepared  to  accompany  them,  it 
was  believed,  would  as  fully  meet  all  the  con- 
ditions of  the  race,  as  was  possible  in  the 
then  existing  state  of  the  world.  It  would 
separate  those  who  should  emigrate  from  all 


COTTON  IS  KING.  25 

further  contact  with  Slavery,  and  from  its  con- 
taminating influences ;  it  would  relax  the  laws 
of  the  Slave  States  against  emancipation,  and 
lead  to  the  more  frequent  liheration  of  slaves ; 
it  would  stimulate  and  encourage  the  colored 
people  remaining  here,  to  engage  in  efforts  for 
their  own  elevation ;  it  would  estahlish  free 
republics  along  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  drive 
away  the  Slave-trader ;  it  would  prevent  the 
extension  of  Slavery,  by  means  of  the  Slave 
trade,  in  tropical  America ;  it  would  introduce 
civilization  and  Christianity  among  the  people 
of  Africa,  and  overturn  their  barbarism  and 
bloody  superstitions  ;  and,  if  successful,  it  would 
react  upon  slavery  at  home,  by  pointing  out  to 
the  States  and  General  Government,  a  mode  by 
which  they  might  free  themselves  from  the 
whole  African  race. 

The  Society  had  thus  undertaken  as  great  an 
amount  of  work  as  it  could  perform.  The  field 
was  broad  enough,  truly,  for  an  association  that 
hoped  to  obtain  an  income  of  but  five  to  ten 
thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  realized  annually 
an  average  of  only  $3,276  during  the  first  six 
2 


26  COTTON  IS  KING. 

years  of  its  existence.  It  did  not,  therefore, 
include  the  destruction  of  American  Slavery 
among  the  objects  it  labored  to  accomplish. 
That  subject  had  been  fully  discussed;  the 
ablest  men  in  the  nation  had  labored  for  its 
overthrow;  more  than  half  the  original  States 
of  the  Union  had  emancipated  their  slaves ;  the 
advantages  of  freedom  to  the  colored  man  had 
been  tested :  the  results  had  not  been  as  favor- 
able as  anticipated ;  the  public  sentiment  of 
the  country  was  adverse  to  an  increase  of  the 
free  colored  population;  the  few  of  their  num- 
ber who  had  risen  to  respectability  and  afflu- 
ence, were  too  widely  separated  to  act  in  concert 
in  promoting  measures  for  the  general  good; 
and,  until  better  results  should  follow  the  liber- 
ation of  slaves,  further  emancipations,  by  the 
States,  were  not  to  be  expected.  The  friends  of 
the  Colonization  Society,  therefore,  while  afford- 
ing every  encouragement  to  emancipation  by 
individuals,  refused  to  agitate  the  question  of 
the  general  abolition  of  Slavery.  Nor  did  they 
thrust  aside  any  other  scheme  of  benevolence  in 
behalf  of  the  African  race.  Forty  years  had 


COTTON   IS  KING.  27 

elapsed  from  the  commencement  of  emancipa- 
tion in  the  country,  and  thirty  from  the  date  of 
FRANKLIN'S  APPEAL,  before  the  Society  sent  off 
its  first  emigrants.  At  that  date,  no  extended 
plans  were  in  existence,  promising  relief  to  the 
free  colored  man.  A  period  of  lethargy  among 
the  benevolent,  had  succeeded  the  State  eman- 
cipations, as  a  consequence  of  the  indifference 
of  the  free  colored  people,  as  a  class,  to  their 
degraded  condition.  The  public  sentiment  of 
the  country,  therefore,  was  fully  prepared  to 
adopt  Colonization  as  the  best  means,  or  rather, 
as  the  only  means  for  accomplishing  anything 
for  them,  or  for  the  African  race.  Indeed,  so 
general  was  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  Coloni- 
zation, somewhere  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
United  States,  that  those  who  disliked  Africa, 
commenced  a  scheme  of  emigration  to  Hayti, 
and  prosecuted  it,  until  8,000  free  colored  per- 
sons were  removed  to  that  island — a  number 
nearly  equaling  the  whole  emigration  to  Li- 
beria up  to  1850.  Haytian  emigration,  how- 
ever, proved  a  most  disastrous  experiment. 
But  the  general  acquiescence  in  the  objects  of 


28  COTTON  IS  KING. 

the  Colonization  Society  did  not  long  continue. 
The  exports  of  cotton  from  the  South  were  then 
rapidly  on  the  increase.  Slave  lahor  had 
become  profitable,  and  slaves,  in  the  cotton- 
growing  States,  were  no  longer  considered  a 
burden.  Seven  years  after  the  first  emigrants 
reached  Liberia,  the  South  exported  294,310,115 
pounds  of  cotton ;  and,  the  year  following,  the 
total  cotton  crop  reached  325,000,000  pounds. 
But  a  great  depression  in  prices0  was  now  upon 
the  planters,  and  alarmed  them  for  their  safety. 
They  had  decided  against  emancipation,  and 
now  to  have  their  slaves  rendered  valueless,  was 
an  evil  they  were  determined  to  avert. 

At  this  juncture,  a  warfare  against  Coloniza- 
tion was  commenced  at  the  South,  and  it  was 
pronounced  an  Abolition  scheme  in  disguise. 
In  defending  itself,  the  Society  re-asserted  its 
principles  of  neutrality  in  relation  to  Slavery, 
and  that  it  had  only  in  view  the  Colonization  of 
the  free  colored  people.  In  the  heat  of  the 
contest,  the  South  were  reminded  of  their  for- 

0  See  Table  I.  Appendix. 


COTTON  IS  KING.  29 

mer  sentiments  in  relation  to  the  whole  colored 
population,  and  that  Colonization  merely  pro- 
posed removing  one  division  of  a  people  they 
had  pronounced  a  public  burden.0 

The  Emancipationists  at  the  North  had  only 
lent  their  aid  to  Colonization,  in  the  hope  that 
it  would  prove  an  able  auxiliary  to  Abolition ; 
but  when  the  Society  declared  its  unalterable 
purpose  to  adhere  to  its  original  position  of 
neutrality,  they  withdrew  their  support,  and 

0  The  sentiment  of  the  Colonization  Society,  was  ex- 
pressed in  the  following  resolution,  embraced  in  its 
Annual  Report  of  1826 : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Society  disclaims,  in  the  most  unqualified  terms, 
the  designs  attributed  to  it,  of  interfering,  on  the  one  hand,  with  the 
legal  rights  and  obligations  of  Slavery ;  and,  on  the  other,  of  perpetu- 
ating its  existence  within  the  limits  of  the  country." 

On  another  occasion  MR.  CLAY,  in  behalf  of  the  Society, 
defined  its  position  thus : 

"It  protested,  from  the  commencement,  and  throughout  all  its 
progress,  and  it  now  protests,  tlat  it  entertains  no  purpose,  on  its 
own  authority,  or  by  its  own  means,  to  attempt  emancipation,  partial 
or  general ;  that  it  knows  the  General  Government  has  no  constitu- 
tional power  to  achieve  such  an  object;  that  it  believes  that  the 
States,  and  the  States  only,  which  tolerate  Slavery,  can  accomplish 
the  work  of  emancipation ;  and  that  it  ought  to  be  left  to  them 
exclusively,  absolutely,  and  voluntarily,  to  decide  the  question." — 
Tenth  Annual  Report,  p.  14,  1828. 


30  COTTON   IS   KING. 

commenced  hostilities  against  it.  "  The  Anti- 
slavery  Society,"  said  a  distinguished  Abolition- 
ist, "  began  with  a  declaration  of  war  against 
the  Colonization  Society."0  This  feeling  of 
hostility  was  greatly  increased  by  the  action  of 
the  Abolitionists  of  England.  The  doctrine  of 
"  Immediate,  not  Gradual  Abolition,"  was  an- 
nounced by  them,  as  their  creed ;  and  the  Anti- 
slavery  men  of  the  United  States  adopted  it  as 
the  basis  of  their  action.  Its  success  in  the 
English  Parliament,  in  procuring  the  passage 
of  the  Act  for  West  India  Emancipation,  in 

1833,  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  Abolition 
cause  in  the  United  States. 

In  1832,  Mr.  LLOYD  GARRISON  declared  hos- 
tilities  against   the   Colonization   Society ;    in 

1834,  JAMES  G.  BIRNEY  followed  his  example ; 
and,  in   1836,  GERRITT  SMITH  also  abandoned 
the  cause.     The  North  everywhere   resounded 
with  the  cry  of  "  Immediate  Abolition  ;"  and,  in 
1837,  the  Abolitionists  numbered  1,015  socie- 
ties ;  had    seventy   agents   under    commission, 

0  GERRITT  SMITH,  183fi. 


COTTON  IS  KING.  31 

and  an  income,  for  the  year,  of  $36,000.* 
The  Colonization  Society,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  greatly  embarrassed.  Its  income,  in  1838, 
was  reduced  to  $1 0,900 ;  it  was  deeply  in  debt ; 
the  parent  Society  did  not  send  a  single  emi- 
grant, that  year,  to  Liberia;  and  its  enemies 
pronounced  it  bankrupt  and  dead.f 

But  did  the  Abolitionists  succeed  in  forcing 
Emancipation  upon  the  South,  when  they  had 
thus  rendered  Colonization  powerless  ?  Did  the 
fetters  fall  from  the  slave  at  their  bidding? 
Did  fire  from  heaven  descend,  and  consume  the 
Slaveholder  at  their  invocation?  No  such 
thing !  They  had  not  touched  the  true  cause  of 
the  extension  of  Slavery.  They  had  not  dis- 
covered the  secret  of  its  power ;  and,  therefore, 
its  locks  remained  unshorn,  its  strength  un- 
abated. The  institution  progressed  as  triumph- 

0  LUNDY'S  LIFE. 

f  On  the  floor  of  an  Ecclesiastical  Assembly,  one  minis- 
ter pronounced  Colonization  a  "dead  horse ;"  while  another 
claimed  that  his  "  old  mare  was  giving  freedom  to  more 
slaves,  by  trotting  off  with  them  to  Canada,  than  the 
Colonization  Society  was  sending  of  emigrants  to  Liberia. 


COTTON  IS   KING. 

antly  as  if  no  opposition  existed.     The  planters 
were  progressing  steadily,  in  securing  to  them- 
selves the  monopoly  of  the  cotton  markets  of 
Europe,  and  in  extending  the  area  of  Slavery 
at  home.      In   the  same   year  that   GERRITT 
SMITH  declared  for  Abolition,  the  title  of  the 
Indians  to  fifty-five  millions  of  acres  of  land, 
in  the  Slave  States,  was  extinguished,  and  the 
tribes  removed.      The  year   that    Colonization 
was  depressed  to  the  lowest  point,  the  exports 
of  cotton,  from  the  United  States,  amounted  to 
595,952,297  pounds ,  and  the  consumption  of 
the  article  in  England,  to  477,206,108  pounds. 
When  Mr.  BIRNEY  seceded  from  Colonization, 
he  encouraged  his  new  allies  with   the  hope, 
that  West  India  free  labor  would  render  our 
slave  labor  less  profitable,  and  emancipation,  as 
a  consequence,  be  more  easily  effected.     How 
stood  this  matter  six  years  afterward?     This 
will    be    best     understood    by    contrast.      In 
1800,  the  West  Indies  exported  17,000,000  Ibs. 
of  cotton,   and  the  United  States,  17,789,803 
Ibs.     They  were   then    about  equally   produc- 
tive in  that  article.     In  1840,  the  West  India 


COTTON  IS  KING.  33 

exports  had  dwindled  down  to  427,529  Ibs.,  while 
those  of  the  United  States  had  increased  to 
743,941,061  Ibs. 

And  what  was  England  doing  all  this  while  ? 
Having  lost  her  supplies  from  the  West  Indies, 
she  was  quietly  spinning  away  at  American 
Slave-labor  cotton;  and,  to  ease  the  public 
conscience  of  the  kingdom,  was  loudly  talking 
of  a  Free-labor  supply  of  the  commodity  from 
the  banks  of  the  Niger!  But  the  expedition 
up  that  river  failed,  and  1845  found  her  manu- 
facturing 626,496,000  Ibs.  of  cotton,  mostly  the 
product  of  American  slaves !  The  strength  of 
American  Slavery  at  that  moment,  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact,  that  we  exported,  that  year, 
872,905, 996  Ibs.  of  cotton,  and  our  production 
of  cane  sugar  had  reached  over  200,000,000  Ibs.; 
while,  to  make  room  for  Slavery  extension,  we 
were  busied  in  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  in 
preparations  for  the  consequent  war  with  Mexico ! 

But  Abolitionists  themselves,  some  time  be- 
fore this,  had  mostly  become  convinced  of  the 
feeble  character  of  their  efforts  against  Slavery, 
and  allowed  politicians  to  enlist  them  in  a 


34  COTTON  IS   KING. 

political  crusade,  as  the  last  hope  of  arresting 
the  progress  of  the  system.  The  cry  of  "  Im- 
mediate Abolition "  died  away ;  reliance  upon 
moral  means  was  mainly  abandoned;  and  the 
limitation  of  the  institution,  geographically, 
became  the  chief  object  of  effort.  The  results 
of  more  than  a  dozen  years  of  political  action 
are  before  the  public,  and  what  has  it  accom- 
plished! We  are  not  now  concerned  in  the 
inquiry  of  how  far  the  strategy  of  politicians 
succeeded  in  making  the  votes  of  Abolitionists 
subservient  to  Slavery  extension.  That  they 
did  so,  in  at  least  one  prominent  case,  will  never 
be  denied  by  any  candid  man.  All  we  intend 
to  say,  is,  that  the  cotton  planters,  instead  of 
being  crippled  in  their  operations,  were  able,  in 
the  year  ending  the  last  of  June,  1853,  to  export 
1,111,570,370  Ibs.  of  cotton,  beside  supplying 
over  400,000,000  Ibs.  for  home  consumption ; 
and  that  England,  the  year  ending  the  last  of 
January  1853,  consumed  the  unprecedented 
quantity  of  817,998,048  Ibs.  of  that  staple.  The 
year  1854,  instead  of  finding  Slavery  perishing 
under  the  blows  it  had  received,  has  witnessed 


COTTON  IS   KING.  35 

the  destruction  of  all  the  old  barriers  to  its  ex- 
tension, and  beholds  it  expanded  widely  enough 
for  the  profitable  employment  of  the  slave  popu- 
lation, with  all  its  natural  increase,  for  a  hundred 
years  to  come  ! ! 

If  political  action  against  Slavery  has .  been 
thus  disastrously  unfortunate,  how  is  it  with 
Anti-Slavery  action,  at  large,  as  to  its  efficiency 
at  this  moment  ?  On  this  point  hear  the  testi- 
mony of  a  correspondent  of  FREDERICK  DOUGLASS' 
Paper,  January  26,  1855 : 

"How  gloriously  did  the  Anti-Slavery  cause 
arise  °  °  in  1833-4 !  And  now  what 
is  it,  in  our  agency !  *  °  What  is  it 
through  the  errors  or  crimes  of  its  advocates  va- 
riously— probably  quite  as  much  as  through  the 
brazen,  gross,  and  licentious  wickedness  of  its 
enemies.  Alas !  what  is  it  but  a  mutilated, 
feeble,  discordant  and  half-expiring  instrument, 
at  which  Satan  and  his  children,  legally  and 
illegally  scoff !  Of  it  I  despair." 

Such  are  the  crowning  results  of  both  political 
and  Anti-Slavery  action,  for  the  overthrow  of 
Slavery  !  Such  are  the  demonstrations  of  their 


36  COTTON   IS  KING. 

utter  impotency  as  a  means  of  relief  to  the  bond 
and  free  of  the  colored  race ! 

Surely,  then,  it  is  a  time  for  work,  in  some 
other  mode,  than  that  hitherto  adopted.  Surely, 
too,  it  is  a  time  for  the  American  people  to 
rebuke  that  class  of  politicians,  both  North  and 
South,  whose  only  capital  consists  in  keeping  up 
a  fruitless  warfare  upon  the  subject  of  Slavery — 
fruitless,  truly,  to  the  colored  man  —  nay ! 
abundant  in  fruits ;  but  to  him,  "  their  vine  is 
of  t}ie  vine  of  Sodom,  and  of  the  fields  of  Gomor- 
rah ;  their  grapes  of  gall,  their  clusters  are  bit- 
ter ;  their  wine  is  the  poison  of  dragons,  and  the 
cruel  venom  of  asps."0 

The  application  of  this  language,  to  the  case 
under  consideration,  will  be  fully  justified,  when 
the  facts  are  presented  in  the  remaining  pages 
of  this  work. 

2.  The  present  relations  of  American  Slavery 
to  the  Industrial  interests  of  our  own  country ; 
to  the  demands  of  Commerce,  and  to  the  present 
Political  crisis. 

The  institution  of  Slavery,  at  this  moment, 
Deuteronomy  xxxii,  32,  33. 


COTTON  IS  KING.  37 

gives  indications  of  a  vitality  that  was  never 
anticipated  by  its  friends  or  foes.  Its  enemies 
often  supposed  it  about  ready  to  expire,  from 
the  wounds  they  had  inflicted,  when  in  truth  it 
had  taken  two  steps  in  advance ;  while  they  had 
taken  twice  the  number  in  an  opposite  direction. 
In  each  successive  conflict,  its  assailants  have  been 
weakened,  while  its  dominion  has  been  extended. 
This  has  arisen  from  causes  too  generally 
overlooked.  Slavery  is  not  an  isolated  system, 
but  is  so  mingled  with  the  business  of  the  world, 
that  it  derives  facilities  from  the  most  innocent 
transactions.  Capital  and  labor,  in  Europe  and 
America,  are  largely  employed  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  cotton.  These  goods,  to  a  great  extent, 
may  be  seen  freighting  every  vessel,  from 
Christian  nations,  that  traverses  the  seas  of  the 
globe ;  and  filling  the  warehouses  and  shelves 
of  the  merchants,  over  two-thirds  of  the  world. 
By  the  industry,  skill,  and  enterprise,  employed 
in  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  mankind  are  bet- 
ter clothed;  their  comfort  better  promoted; 
general  industry  more  highly  stimulated ;  com- 
merce more  widely  extended ;  and  civilization 


38  COTTON  IS  KING. 

more  rapidly  advanced,  than  in  any  preceding 
age. 

To  the  superficial  observer,  all  the  agencies, 
based  upon  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  cotton, 
seem  to  be  legitimately  engaged  in  promoting 
human  happiness ;  and  he,  doubtless,  feels  like 
invoking  Heaven's  choicest  blessings  upon  them. 
When  he  sees  the  stockholders  in  the  cotton 
corporations  receiving  their  dividends,  the  oper- 
atives their  wages,  the  merchants  their  profits, 
and  civilized  people  everywhere  clothed  comfort- 
ably in  cottons,  he  can  not  refrain  from  explain- 
ing: "  The  lines  have  fallen  unto  them  in 
pleasant  places;  yea,  they  have  a  goodly  heritage!" 

But  turn  a  moment  to  the  source  whence  the 
raw  cotton,  the  basis  of  these  operations,  is  ob- 
tained, and  observe  the  aspect  of  things  in  that 
direction.  When  the  statistics  on  the  subject 
are  examined,  it  appears  that  nearly  all  the 
cotton  consumed  in  the  Christian  world,  is  the 
product  of  the  Slave  labor  of  the  United  States.* 
It  is  this  monopoly  that  has  given  Slavery  its 
commercial  value ;  and,  while  this  monopoly  is 
0  See  Appendix,  Table  I. 


COTTON  IS  KING.  39 

retained,  the  institution  will  continue  to  extend 
itself  wherever  it  can  find  room  to  spread.  He 
who  looks  for  any  other  result,  must  expect  that 
nations,  which,  for  centuries,  have  waged  war  to 
extend  their  commerce,  will  now  ahandon  their 
means  of  aggrandizement,  and  bankrupt  them- 
selves, to  force  the  abolition  of  American  Slavery ! 
This  is  not  all.  The  economical  value  of 
Slavery  as  an  agency  for  supplying  the  means 
of  extending  manufactures  and  commerce,  has 
long  been  understood  by  statesmen.  The  dis- 
covery of  the  power  of  steam,  and  the  inventions 
in  machinery,  for  preparing  and  manufacturing 
cotton,  revealed  the  important  fact,  that  a  single 
Island,  having  the  monopoly  secured  to  itself, 
could  supply  the  world  with  clothing.  Great 
Britain  attempted  to  gain  this  monopoly;  and, 
to  prevent  other  countries  from  rivaling  her, 
she  long  prohibited  all  emigration  of  skillful 
mechanics  from  the  kingdom,  as  well  as  all  ex- 
ports of  machinery.  As  country  after  country 
was  opened  to  her  commerce,  the  markets  for 
her  manufactures  were  extended,  and  the  de- 
mand for  the  raw  material  increased.  The 


40  COTTON   IS  KING. 

benefits  of  this  enlarged  commerce  of  the  world, 
were  not  confined  to  a  single  nation,  but 
mutually  enjoyed  by  all.  As  each  had  products 
to  sell,  peculiar  to  itself,  the  advantages  often 
gained  by  one,  were  no  detriment  to  the  others. 
The  principal  articles  demanded  by  this  increas- 
ing commerce,  have  been  coffee,  sugar,  and 
cotton — in  the  production  of  which  Slave  labor 
has  greatly  predominated.  Since  the  enlarge- 
ment of  manufactures,  cotton  has  entered  more 
extensively  into  commerce  than  coffee  and  sugar, 
though  the  demand  for  all  three  has  advanced 
with  the  greatest  rapidity.  England  could  only 
become  a  great  commercial  nation,  through  the 
agency  of  her  manufactures.  She  was  the  best 
supplied,  of  all  the  nations,  with  the  necessary 
capital,  skill,  labor,  and  fuel,  to  extend  her  com- 
merce by  this  means.  But,  for  the  raw  material, 
to  supply  her  manufactories,  she  was  dependent 
upon  other  countries.  The  planters  of  the 
United  States  were  the  most  favorably  situated 
for  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  and  attempted  to 
monopolize  the  markets  for  that  staple.  This  led 
to  a  fusion  of  interests  between  them  and  the 


COTTON   IS   KING.  4J, 

manufacturers  of  Great  Britain ;  and  to  the  in- 
vention of  notions,  in  political  economy,  that 
would,  so  far  as  adopted,  promote  the  interests 
of  this  coalition.  With  the  advantages  possessed 
by  the  English  manufacturers,  "Free  Trade7' 
would  render  all  other  nations  subservient  to 
their  interests ;  and,  so  far  as  their  operations 
should  be  increased,  just  so  far  would  the 
demand  for  American  cotton  be  extended.  The 
details  of  the  success  of  the  parties  to  this  com- 
bination, and  the  opposition  they  have  had  to 
encounter,  are  left  to  be  noticed  more  fully  here- 
after. To  the  cotton  planters,  the  copartner- 
ship has  been  eminently  advantageous. 

How  far  the  other  agricultural  interests  of 
the  United  States  are  promoted,  by  extending 
the  cultivation  of  cotton,  may  be  inferred  from 
the  Census  returns  of  1850,  and  the  Congres- 
sional Eeports  on  Commerce  and  Navigation, 
for  1854.°  Cotton  and  tobacco,  only,  are  largely 
exported.  The  production  of  sugar  does  not 
yet  equal  our  consumption  of  the  article,  and 
we  import,  chiefly  from  Slave-labor  countries, 

0  See  Appendix,  Table  II. 


42  COTTON  IS  KING. 

445,445,680  Ibs.  to  make  up  the  deficiency.* 
But  of  cotton  and  tobacco,  we  export  more 
than  two-thirds  of  the  amount  produced  ;  while  of 
other  products,  of  the  agriculturists,  less  than  the 
one-forty-sixih  part  is  exported.  Foreign  nations, 
generally,  can  grow  their  provisions,  but  can 

not  grow  their  toba  eo  and  cotton.    Our  surplus 
c 

provisions,  not  exported,  go  to  the  villages, 
towns,  and  cities,  to  feed  the  mechanics,  manu- 
facturers, merchants,  professional  men,  and 
others ;  or  to  the  cotton  and  sugar  districts  of 
the  South,  to  feed  the  planters  and  their  slaves. 
The  increase  of  mechanics  and  manufacturers 
at  the  North,  and  the  expansion  of  Slavery  at 
the  South,  therefore,  augment  the  markets  for 
provisions,  and  promote  the  prosperity  of  the 
farmer.  As  the  mechanical  population  increases, 
the  implements  of  husbandry,  and  articles  of 
furniture,  are  multiplied,  so  that  both  farmer 
and  planter  can  be  supplied  with  them  on  easier 
terms.  As  foreign  nations  open  their  markets 
to  cotton  fabrics,  increased  demands,  for  the  raw 
material,  are  made.  As  new  grazing  and  grain- 
0  Table  III. 


COTTON   IS  KING.  43 

growing  States  are  developed,  and  teem  with 
their  surplus  productions,  the  mechanic  is  bene- 
fited, and  the  planter,  relieved  from  food-raising, 
can  employ  his  slaves  more  extensively  upon 
cotton.  It  is  thus  that  our  exports  are  increased ; 
our  foreign  commerce  advanced;  the  home  mar- 
kets of  the  mechanic  and  farmer  extended,  and 
the  wealth  of  the  nation  promoted.  It  is  thus, 
also,  that  the  Free  labor  of  the  country  finds 
remunerating  markets  for  its  products — though 
at  the  expense  of  serving  as  an  efficient  auxil- 
iary in  the  extension  of  Slavery  ! 

But  more.  So  speedily  are  new  grain-growing 
States  springing  up;  so  vast  is  the  territory 
owned  by  the  United  States,  ready  for  settle- 
ment ;  and  so  enormous  will  soon  be  the  amount 
of  products  demanding  profitable  markets,  that 
the  national  government  has  been  seeking  new 
outlets  for  them,  upon  our  own  continent,  to 
which,  alone,  they  can  be  advantageously  trans- 
ported. That  such  outlets,  when  our  vast 
possessions,  Westward,  are  brought  under  culti- 
vation, will  be  an  imperious  necessity,  is  known 
to  every  statesman.  The  farmers  of  these  new 


44  COTTON  IS  KING. 

States,  after  the  example  of  those  of  the  older 
sections  of  the  country,  will  demand  a  market  for 
their  products.  This  can  be  furnished,  only,  by 
the  extension  of  Slavery ;  by  the  acquisition  of 
more  tropical  territory;  by  opening  the  ports 
of  Brazil,  and  other  South  American  countries, 
to  the  acbnission  of  our  provisions ;  or  by  a  vast 
enlargement  of  domestic  manufactures,  to  the 


exclusion  of  foreign  goods  from  the  country. 
Look  at  this  question  as  it  now  stands,  and  then 
judge  of  what  it  must  be  twenty  years  hence. 
The  class  of  products  under  consideration,  in  the 
whole  country,  in  1853,  were  valued  at  $1,551,- 
176,490;  of  which  there  were  exported  to  for- 
eign countries,  to  the  value  of  only  $33,809,- 
126.°  The  planter  will  not  assent  to  any  check 
upon  the  foreign  imports  of  the  country,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  farmer.  This  demands  the  adop- 
tion of  vigorous  measures  to  secure  a  market 
for  his  products  by  some  of  the  other  modes 
stated.  Hence,  the  orders  of  our  Executive,  in 
1851,  for  the  exploration  of  the  valley  of  the 
Amazon;  the  efforts,  in  1854,  to  obtain  a  treaty 
°See  Appendix,  Table  II. 


COTTON   IS  KING.  45 

with  Brazil  for  the  free  navigation  of  that  im- 
mense river;  the  negotiations  for  a  military 
foothold  in  St.  Domingo,  and  the  determination 
to  acquire  Cuba.  But  we  must  not  anticipate  topics 
to  be  considered  at  a  later  point  in  our  discussion. 
Antecedent  to  all  these  movements,  Great 
Britain  had  foreseen  the  coming  increased  de- 
mand for  tropical  products.  Indeed,  her  West 
Indian  policy,  of  a  few  years  previous,  had  hast- 
ened the  crisis ;  and,  to  repair  her  injuries,  and 
meet  the  general  outcry  for  cotton,  she  made 
the  most  vigorous  efforts  to  promote  its  cultiva- 
tion in  her  own  tropical  possessions.  The  motives 
prompting  her  to  this  policy,  need  not  be  refer- 
red to  here,  as  they  will  be  noticed  hereafter. 
The  Hon.  GEORGE  THOMPSON,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, when  urging  the  increase  of  cotton  culti- 
vation in  the  East  Indies,  declared  that  the 
scheme  must  succeed,  and  that,  soon,  all  Slave- 
labor  cotton  would  be  repudiated  by  the  British 
manufacturers.  Mr.  GARRISON  indorsed  the 
measure,  and  expressed  his  belief  that,  with  its 
success,  the  American  Slave  system  must  inevi- 
tably perish,  from  starvation  !  But  England's 


46  COTTON   IS   KING. 

efforts  signally  failed,  and  the  golden  apple, 
fully  ripened,  dropped  into  the  lap  of  our  cotton 
planters.  The  year  that  heard  THOMPSON'S 
pompous  predictions,0  witnessed  the  consump- 
tion of  but  445,744,000  Ibs.  of  cotton,  by  Eng- 
land, while,  fourteen  years  later,  she  used 
817,998,048  Ibs.,  nearly  700,000,000  Ibs.  of 
which  were  obtained  from  America ! 

That  we  have  not  overstated  her  dependence 
upon  our  Slave  labor  for  cotton,  is  a  fact  of 
world-wide  notoriety.  Blackwood's  Magazine, 
January,  1853,  in  referring  to  the  cultivation 
of  the  article,  by  the  United  States,  says :" 

"With  its  increased  growth  has  sprung  up 
that  mercantile  navy,  which  now  waves  its 
stripes  and  stars  over  every  sea,  and  that 
foreign  influence,  which  has  placed  the  internal 
peace — we  may  say  the  subsistence  of  millions, 
in  every  manufacturing  country  in  Europe — 
within  the  power  of  an  oligarchy  of  planters." 

In  reference  to  the  same  subject,  the  London 
Economist  quotes  as  follows : 

"  Let  any  great  social  or  physical  convulsion 
0 1839. 


COTTON   IS  KING.  47 

visit  the  United  States,  and  England  would  feel 
the  shock  from  Land's  End  to  John  O'Groats. 
The  lives  of  nearly  two  millions  of  our  country- 
men are  dependent  upon  the  cotton  crops  of 
America ;  their  destiny  may  be  said,  without 
any  kind  of  hyperhole,  to  hang  upon  a  thread. 
Should  any  dire  calamity  hefall  the  land  of 
cotton,  a  thousand  of  our  merchant  ships  would 
rot  idly  in  dock ;  ten  thousand  mills  must 
stop  their  busy  looms ;  two  thousand  thousand 
mouths  would  starve,  for  lack  of  food  to  feed 
them." 

A  more  definite  statement  of  England's 
indebtedness  to  cotton,  is  given  by  McCuL- 
LOUGH  ;  who  shows,  that  as  far  back  as  1832, 
her  exports  of  cotton  fabrics  were  equal  in 
value  to  about  two-thirds  of  all  the  woven 
fabrics  exported  from  the  empire.  The  same 
state  of  things,  nearly,  existed  in  1849,  when 
the  cotton  fabrics  exported  were  valued  at 
about  $140,000,000,  while  all  the  other  woven 
fabrics  exported  did  not  quite  reach  to  the  value 
of  $68,000,000.° 

0  London  Economist,  1850. 


48  COTTON  IS  KING. 

There  was  a  time  when  American  Slave  labor 
sustained  no  such  relations  to  the  manufactures 
and  commerce  of  the  world  as  it  now  so  firmly 
holds ;  and  when,  by  the  adoption  of  proper 
measures,  on  the  part  of  the  Free  colored  people 
and  their  friends,  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves,  in  all  the  States,  might  have  been 
effected.  But  that  period  has  passed  forever 
away,  and  causes,  unforeseen,  have  come  into 
operation,  which  are  too  powerful  to  be  over- 
come by  any  agencies  that  have  since  been 
employed.  What  Divine  Providence  may  have 
in  store  for  the  future,  we  know  not ;  but,  at 
present,  the  institution  of  Slavery  is  sustained 
by  numberless  pillars,  too  massive  for  human 
power  and  wisdom  to  overthrow. 

Take  another  view  of  this  subject.  To  say 
nothing  now  of  the  tobacco,  rice,  and  sugar, 
which  are  the  products  of  our  slave  labor,  we 
exported  raw  cotton  to  the  value  of  $109,456,404 
in  1853.  Its  destination  was,  to  Great  Britain, 
768,596,498  Ibs. ;  to  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
335,271,434  Ibs. ;  to  countries  on  our  own  Con- 
tinent, 7,702,438  Ibs. ;  making  the  total  ex- 


COTTON  IS  KING.  49 

ports,  1,111,570,370  Ibs.  The  entire  crop  of 
that  year  being  1,600,000,000  Ibs.,  gives,  for 
borne  consumption,  488,429,630  Ibs.  Of  this, 
there  was  manufactured  into  cotton  fabrics  to 
the  value  of  $61,869,274;*  of  which  there  was 
retained,  for  home  markets,  to  the  value  of 
$53,100,290.  Our  imports  of  cotton  fabrics 
from  Europe,  in  1853,  for  consumption,  amount- 
ed in  value  to  $26,477,950 :  thus  making  our 
cottons,  foreign  and  domestic,  for  that  year, 
cost  us  $79,578,240. 

This,  now,  is  what  becomes  of  our  cotton; 
this  is  the  way  in  which  it  so  largely  constitutes 
the  basis  of  commerce  and  trade ;  and  this  is 
the  nature  of  the  relations  existing  between 
the  Slavery  of  the  United  States  and  the 
material  interests  of  the  world. 

But  have  the  United  States  no  other  great 
leading  interests,  except  those  which  are  in- 
volved in  the  production  of  cotton  ?  Certainly, 

0  This  estimate  is  probably  too  low,  being  taken  from 
the  census  of  1850.  The  exports  of  cottons  for  1850  were, 
$4,734,424,  and  for  1853,  $8,768,894;  having  nearly 
doubled  in  four  years. 

4 


50  COTTON   IS  KING. 

they  have.  Here  is  a  great  field  for  the 
growth  of  provisions.  In  ordinary  years,  exclu- 
sive of  tobacco  and  cotton,  our  agricultural 
property,  when  added  to  the  domestic  animals 
and  their  products,  amounts  in  value  to 
$1,551, 176,490.  Of  this,  there  is  exported 
only  to  the  value  of  $33,809,126 ;  which  leaves 
for  home  consumption  and  use,  a  remainder  to 
the  value  of  $1,517,367,364.*  The  portions  of 
the  property  represented  by  this  immense  sum 
of  money,  which  pass  from  the  hands  of  the 
agriculturists,  are  distributed  throughout  the 
Union,  for  the  support  of  the  day-laborers, 
sailors,  mechanics,  manufacturers,  traders,  mer- 
chants, professional  men,  planters,  and  the 
slave  population.  This  is  what  becomes  of  the 
provisions. 

Beside  this  annual  consumption  of  provisions, 
most  of  which  is  the  product  of  free  labor,  the 
people  of  the  United  States  use  a  vast  amount 
of  groceries,  which  are  mainly  of  Slave  labor 
origin.  Boundless  as  is  the  influence  of  cotton, 

0  See  Table  II,  Appendix. 


COTTON   IS  KING.  51 

in  stimulating  Slavery  extension,  that  of  the 
cultivation  of  groceries  falls  but  little  short  of 
it ;  the  chief  difference  being,  that  they  do  not 
receive  such  an  increased  value  under  the  hand 
of  manufacturers.  The  cultivation  of  coffee,  in 
Brazil,  employs  as  great  a  number  of  slaves  as 
that  of  cotton  in  the  United  States. 

But,  to  comprehend  fully  our  indebtedness  to 
slave  labor  for  groceries,  we  must  descend  to 
particulars.  Our  imports  of  coffee,  tobacco, 
sugar,  and  molasses,  for  1853,  amounted  in 
value  to  $38,479,000;  of  which  the  hand  of  the 
slave,  in  Brazil  and  Cuba  mainly,  supplied  to 
the  value  of  $34,451,000.°  This  shows  the 
extent  to  which  we  are  sustaining  foreign  Slav- 
ery, by  the  consumption  of  these  four  products. 
But  this  is  not  our  whole  indebtedness  to 
Slavery  for  groceries.  Of  the  domestic  grown 
tobacco,  valued  at  $19,975,000,  of  which  we 
retain  nearly  one-half,  the  Slave  States  produce 
to  the  value  of  $16,787,000;  of  domestic  rice, 
the  product  of  the  South,  we  consume  to  the 

0  See  Table  III,  Appendix. 


52  COTTON   IS  KING. 

value  of  $7,092,000 ;  of  domestic  Slave  grown 
sugar  and  molasses,  we  take,  for  home  consump- 
tion, to  the  value  of  $34,779,000 ;  making  our 
grocery  account  with  domestic  Slavery,  foot  up 
the  sum  of  $50,449,000.  Our  whole  indebted- 
ness, then,  to  Slavery,  foreign  and  domestic,  for 
these  four  commodities,  after  deducting  two 
millions  of  re-exports,  amounts  to  $82,607,000. 

By  adding  the  value  of  the  foreign  and 
domestic  cotton  fahrics,  consumed  annually  in 
the  United  States,  to  the  yearly  cost  of  the 
groceries  which  the  country  uses,  our  total 
indebtedness,  for  articles  of  Slave  labor  origin, 
will  be  found  swelling  up  to  the  enormous  sum 
of  $162,185,240. 

We  have  now  seen  the  channels  through 
which  our  cotton  passes  off  into  the  great  sea  of 
commerce,  to  furnish  the  world  its  clothing. 
We  have  seen  the  origin  and  value  of  our 
provisions,  and  to  whom  they  are  sold.  We 
have  seen  the  sources  whence  our  groceries  are 
derived,  and  the  millions  of  money  they  cost. 
To  ascertain  how  far  these  several  interests  are 
sustained  by  one  another,  will  be  to  determine 


COTTON  IS   KING.  53 

how  far  any  one  of  them  becomes  an  element  of 
expansion  to  the  others.  To  decide  a  question 
of  this  nature,  with  precision,  is  impracticable. 
The  statistics  are  not  attainable.  It  may  be 
illustrated,  however,  in  various  ways,  so  as  to 
obtain  a  conclusion  proximately  accurate.  Sup- 
pose, for  example,  that  the  supplies  of  food 
from  the  North  were  cut  off,  the  manufactories 
left  in  their  present  condition,  and  the  planters 
forced  to  raise  their  provisions  and  draught 
animals :  in  such  circumstances,  the  export  of 
cotton  must  cease,  as  the  lands  of  these  States 
could  not  be  made  to  yield  more  than  would 
subsist  their  own  population,  and  supply  the 
cotton  demanded  by  the  Northern  States.  Now, 
if  this  be  true  of  the  agricultural  resources  of 
the  cotton  States — and  it  is  believed  to  be  the 
full  extent  of  their  capacity — then  the  surplus 
of  cotton,  to  the  value  of  more  than  a  hundred 
millions  of  dollars,  now  annually  sent  abroad, 
stands  as  the  representative  of  the  yearly  sup- 
plies which  the  cotton  planters  receive  from  the 
farmers  north  of  the  cotton  line.  This,  there- 
fore, as  will  afterward  more  fully  appear,  may 


54  COTTON  IS  KING. 

be  taken  as  the  probable  extent  to  which  the 
supplies  from  the  North  serve  as  an  element  of 
Slavery  expansion,  in  the  article  of  cotton  alone. 

But  this  subject  demands  a  still  closer  scru- 
tiny, as  to  its  past  connections  with  national 
politics,  in  order  that  the  causes  of  the  failure 
of  Abolitionism  to  arrest  the  progress  of  Slav- 
ery, as  well  as  the  present  relations  of  the 
institution  to  the  politics  of  the  country,  may 
fully  appear. 

Slave  labor  has  seldom  been  made  profitable 
where  it  has  been  wholly  employed  in  grazing 
and  grain  growing ;  but  it  becomes  remunera- 
tive in  proportion  as  the  planters  can  devote 
their  attention  to  cotton,  sugar,  rice,  or  tobacco. 
To  render  Southern  Slavery  profitable  in  the 
highest  degree,  therefore,  the  slaves  must  be 
employed  upon  some  one  of  these  articles,  and 
be  sustained  by  a  supply  of  food  and  draught 
animals  from  Northern  agriculturists ;  and, 
before  the  planter's  supplies  are  complete,  to 
these  must  be  added  cotton  gins,  implements  of 
husbandry,  furniture,  and  tools,  from  Northern 


COTTON  IS  KING.  55 

mechanics.  This  is  a  point  of  the  utmost 
moment,  and  must  be  considered  more  at 
length. 

It  has  long  been  a  vital  question  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Slaveholder,  to  know  how  he  could 
render  the  labor  of  his  slaves  the  most  profitable. 
The  grain  growing  States  had  to  emancipate 
their  slaves,  to  rid  themselves  of  a  profitless 
system.  The  cotton  growing  States,  ever  after 
the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin,  had  found  the 
production  of  that  staple,  highly  remunerative. 
The  logical  conclusion,  from  these  different 
results,  was,  that  the  less  provisions,  and  the 
more  cotton  grown  by  the  planter,  the  greater 
would  be  his  profits.  Markets  for  the  surplus 
products  of  the  farmer  of  the  North,  were 
equally  as  important  to  him  as  the  supply  of 
provisions  was  to  the  planter.  But  the  planter, 
to  be  eminently  successful,  must  purchase  his 
supplies,  at  the  lowest  possible  prices;  while 
the  farmer,  to  secure  his  prosperity,  must  sell 
his  products  at  the  highest  possible  rates.  Few, 
indeed,  can  be  so  ill  informed,  as  not  to  know, 


56  COTTON  IS  KING. 

that  these  two  topics,  for  many  years,  were 
involved  in  the  "  Free  Trade  "  and  "  Protective 
Tariff"  doctrines,  and  afforded  the  materiel  of 
the  political  contests  between  the  North  and  the 
South — between  free  labor  and  slave  labor. 
A  very  brief  notice  of  the  history  of  that 
controversy,  will  demonstrate  the  truth  of  this 
assertion. 

The  attempt  of  the  agricultural  States,  thirty 
years  since,  to  establish  the  protective  policy, 
and  promote  "  Domestic  Manufactures/7  was  a 
struggle  to  create  such  a  division  of  labor,  as 
would  afford  a  "  Home  Market "  for  their  pro- 
ducts, no  longer  in  demand  abroad.  The  first 
decisive  action  on  the  question,  by  Congress, 
was  in  1824 ;  when  the  distress  in  these  States, 
and  the  measures  proposed  for  their  relief,  by 
national  legislation,  were  discussed  on  the  pas- 
sage of  the  "Tariff  Bill"  of  that  year.  The 
ablest  men  in  the  nation  were  engaged  in  the 
controversy.  As  provisions  are  the  most  impor- 
tant item  on  the  one  hand,  and  cotton  on  the 
other,  we  shall  use  these  two  terms  as  the 


COTTON   IS   KING.  57 

representatives  of  the  two  classes  of  products, 
belonging,  respectively,  to  Free  labor  and  to 
Slave  labor. 

Mr.  CLAY,  in  the  course  of  the  debate,  said: 
"  What,  again,  I  would  ask,  is  the  CAUSE  of  the 
unhappy  condition  of  our  country,  which  I  have 
fairly  depicted  ?  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact 
that,  during  almost  the  whole  existence  of 
this  government,  we  have  shaped  our  industry, 
our  navigation,  and  our  commerce,  in  reference 
to  an  extraordinary  war  in  Europe,  and  to  for- 
eign markets  which  no  longer  exist ;  in  the  fact 
that  we  have  depended  too  much  on  foreign 
sources  of  supply,  and  excited  too  little  the 
native ;  in  the  fact  that,  while  we  have  culti- 
vated, with  assiduous  care,  our  foreign  resources, 
we  have  suffered  those  at  home  to  wither,  in  a 
state  of  neglect  and  abandonment.  The  conse- 
quence of  the  termination  of  the  war  of  Europe, 
has  been  the  resumption  of  European  commerce, 
European  navigation,  and  the  extension  of  Euro- 
pean agriculture,  in  all  its  branches.  Europe, 
therefore,  has  no  longer  occasion  for  anything 

like  the  same  extent  as  that  which   she  had 
5 


58  COTTON  IS   KING. 

during  her  wars,  for  American  commerce,  Amer- 
ican navigation,  the  produce  of  American  indus- 
try. Europe  in  commotion,  and  convulsed 
throughout  all  her  memhers,  is  to  America  no 
longer  the  same  Europe  as  she  is  now,  tranquil, 
and  watching  with  the  most  vigilant  attention, 
all  her  own  peculiar  interests,  without  regard  to 
their  operation  on  us.  The  effect  of  this  altered 
state  of  Europe  upon  us,  has  been  to  circum- 
scribe the  employment  of  our  marine,  and 
greatly  to  reduce  the  value  of  the  produce  of 
our  territorial  labor.  °  *  The  greatest  want 
of  civilized  society  is  a  market  for  the  sale  and 
exchange  of  the  surplus  of  the  products  of  the 
labor  of  its  members.  This  market  may  exist 
at  home  or  abroad,  or  both,  but  it  must  exist 
somewhere,  if  society  prospers  ;  and,  wherever 
it  does  exist,  it  should  be  competent  to  the  ab- 
sorption of  the  entire  surplus  production.  It  is 
most  desirable  that  there  should  be  both  a  home 
and  a  foreign  market.  But  with  respect  to  their 
relative  superiority,  I  can  not  entertain  a  doubt. 
The  home  market  is  first  in  order,  and  para- 
mount in  importance.  The  object  of  the  bill 


COTTON   IS  KING.  59 

under  consideration,  is  to  create  this  home  mar- 
ket, and  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  genuine 
American  policy.  It  is  opposed;  and  it  is  in- 
cumhent  on  the  partisans  of  the  foreign  policy 
(terms  which  I  shall  use  without  any  invidious 
intent)  to  demonstrate  that  the  foreign  market 
is  an  adequate  vent  for  the  surplus  produce  of 
our  labor.  But  is  it  so?  1.  Foreign  nations 
can  not,  if  they  would,  take  our  surplus  produce. 
*  °  2.  If  they  could,  they  would  not.  *  * 
We  have  seen,  I  think,  the  causes  of  the  distress 
of  the  country.  We  have  seen  that  an  exclusive 
dependence  upon  the  foreign  market  must  lead 
to  a  still  severer  distress,  to  impoverishment,  to 
ruin.  We  must,  then,  change  somewhat  our 
course.  We  must  give  a  new  direction  to  some 
portion  of  our  industry.  We  must  speedily 
adopt  a  genuine  American  policy.  Still  cherish- 
ing a  foreign  market,  let  us  create  also  a  home 
market,  to  give  further  scope  to  the  consump- 
tion of  the  produce  of  American  industry.  Let 
us  counteract  the  policy  of  foreigners,  and 
withdraw  the  support  which  we  now  give  to 
their  industry,  and  stimulate  that  of  our  own 


60  COTTON   IS  KING. 

country.  °  °  The  creation  of  a  home  market 
is  not  only  necessary  to  procure  for  our  agricul- 
ture a  just  reward  of  its  labors,  but  it  is  indis- 
pensable to  obtain  a  supply  of  our  necessary 
wants.  If  we  can  not  sell,  we  can  not  buy. 
That  portion  of  our  population  (and  we  have 
seen  that  it  is  not  less  than  four-fifths)  which 
makes  comparatively  nothing  that  foreigners 
will  buy,  has  nothing  to  make  purchases  with 
from  foreigners.  It  is  in  vain  that  we  are  told 
of  the  amount  of  our  exports,  supplied  by  the 
planting  interest.  They  may  enable  the  plant- 
ing interest  to  supply  all  its  wants ;  but  they 
bring  no  ability  to  the  interests  not  planting, 
unless,  which  can  not  be  pretended,  the  plant- 
ing interest  was  an  adequate  vent  for  the 
surplus  produce  of  all  the  labor  of  all  other 
interests.  °  *  But  this  home  market,  highly 
desirable  as  it  is,  can  only  be  created  and  cher- 
ished by  the  PROTECTION  of  our  own  legislation 
against  the  inevitable  prostration  of  our  industry, 
which  must  ensue  from  the  action  of  FOREIGN 
policy  and  legislation.  °  °  The  sole  object 
of  the  tariff  is  to  tax  the  produce  of  foreign 


COTTON   IS  KING.  61 

industry,  with  the  view  of  promoting  American 
industry.  *  *  But  it  is  said  by  the  honorable 
gentleman  from  Virginia,  that  the  South,  owing 
to  the  character  of  a  certain  portion  of  its  popu- 
lation, can  not  engage  in  the  business  of  manu- 
facturing. *  °  The  circumstances  of  its 
degradation  unfits  it  for  the  manufacturing 
arts.  The  well-being  of  the  other,  and  the 
larger  part  of  our  population,  requires  the  intro- 
duction of  those  arts. 

"  What  is  to  be  done  in  this  conflict?  The 
gentleman  would  have  us  abstain  from  adopting 
a  policy  called  for  by  the  interests  of  the  greater 
and  freer  part  of  the  population.  But  is  that 
reasonable  ?  Can  it  be  expected  that  the  inter- 
ests of  the  greater  part  should  be  made  to  bend 
to  the  condition  of  the  servile  part  of  our  popu- 
lation ?  That,  in  effect,  would  be  to  make  us 
the  slaves  of  slaves.  °  °  I  am  sure  that  the 
patriotism  of  the  South  may  be  exclusively  relied 
upon  to  reject  a  policy  which  should  be  dictated 
by  considerations  altogether  connected  with  that 
degraded  class,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  residue 
of  our  population.  But,  does  not  a  perseverance 


62  COTTON  IS  KING. 

in  the  foreign  policy,  as  it  now  exists,  in  fact, 
make  all  parts  of  the  Union,  not  planting,  tribu- 
tary to  the  planting  parts  ?  What  is  the  argu- 
ment ?  It  is,  that  we  must  continue  freely  to 
receive  the  produce  of  foreign  industry  without 
regard  to  the  protection  of  American  industry, 
that  a  market  may  be  retained  for  the  sale 
abroad  of  the  produce  of  the  planting  portion 
of  the  country ;  and  that,  if  we  lessen  the  con- 
sumption, in  all  parts  of  America,  those  which 
are  not  planting,  as  well  as  the  planting  sec- 
tions, of  foreign  manufactures,  we  diminish  to 
that  extent  the  foreign  market  for  the  planting 
produce.  The  existing  state  of  things,  indeed, 
presents  a  sort  of  tacit  compact  between  the 
cotton-grower  and  the  British  manufacturer, 
the  stipulations  of  which  are,  on  the  part 
of  the  cotton-grower,  that  the  whole  of  the 
United  States,  the  other  portions  as  well  as 
the  cotton-growing,  shall  remain  open  and 
unrestricted  in  the  consumption  of  British  man- 
ufactures; and,  on  the  part  of  the  British 
manufacturer,  that,  in  consideration  thereof,  he 
will  continue  to  purchase  the  cotton  of  the  South. 


COTTON  IS   KING.  63 

Thus,  then,  we  perceive,  that  the  proposed  meas- 
ure, instead  of  sacrificing  the  South  to  the  other 
parts  of  the  Union,  seeks  only  to  preserve  them 
from  heing  absolutely  sacrificed  under  the  opera- 
tion of  the  tacit  compact  which  I  have  described." 
The  opposition  to  the  Protective  tariff',  by 
the  South,  arose  from  two  causes — the  first 
openly  avowed  at  the  time,  and  the  second 
clearly  deducible  from  the  policy  it  pursued: 
the  one  to  secure  the  foreign  market  for  its  cot- 
ton, the  other  to  obtain  a  bountiful  supply  of 
Provisions  at  cheap  rates.  Cotton  was  admitted 
free  of  duty  into  foreign  countries,  and  Southern 
statesmen  feared  its  exclusion,  if  our  govern- 
ment increased  the  duties  on  foreign  fabrics. 
The  South  exported  about  twice  as  much  of  that 
staple,  as  was  supplied  to  Europe  by  all  other 
countries,  and  there  were  indications  favoring 
the  desire  it  entertained  of  monopolizing  the 
foreign  markets.  The  West  India  planters  could 
not  import  food,  but  at  such  high  rates  as  to 
make  it  impracticable  to  grow  cotton  at  prices 
low  enough  to  suit  the  English  manufacturer. 
To  purchase  cotton  cheaply,  was  essential  to  the 


64  COTTON   IS   KING. 

success  of  his  scheme  of  monopolizing  its  manu- 
facture, and  supplying  the  world  with  clothing. 
The  close  proximity  of  the  provision  and  cotton- 
growing  districts,  in  the  United  States,  gave  its 
planters  advantages  over  all  other  portions  of 
the  world.  But  they  could  not  monopolize  the 
markets,  unless  they  could  obtain  a  cheap  supply 
of  food  and  clothing  for  their  negroes,  and  raise 
their  cotton  at  such  reduced  prices  as  to  under- 
sell their  rivals.  A  manufacturing  population, 
with  its  mechanical  coadjutors,  in  the  midst  of 
the  provision  growers,  on  a  scale  such  as  the 
Protective  policy  contemplated,  it  was  conceived, 
would  create  a  permanent  market  for  their  pro- 
ducts, and  enhance  the  price ;  whereas,  if  this 
manufacturing  could  he  prevented,  and  a  system 
of  free  trade  adopted,  the  South  would  constitute 
the  principal  Provision  market  of  the  country,  and 
the  fertile  lands  of  the  North  supply  the  cheap 
food  demanded  for  its  slaves.  As  the  tariff  policy, 
in  the  outset,  contemplated  the  encouragement 
of  the  production  of  iron,  hemp,  whisky,  and  the 
establishment  of  woolen  manufactories,  princi- 
pally, the  South  found  its  interests  but  slightly 


COTTON   IS  KING.  65 

identified  with  the  system — the  coarser  qualities 
of  cottons,  only,  being  manufactured  in  the 
country,  and,  even  these,  on  a  diminished  scale, 
as  compared  with  the  cotton  crops  of  the  South. 
Cotton,  up  to  the  date  when  this  controversy 
had  fairly  commenced,  had  been  worth,  in  the 
English  market,  an  average  price  of  from  29  7-10 
to  48  4-10  cents  per  lb.*  But  at  this  period  a 
wide-spread  and  ruinous  depression,  both  in  the 
culture  and  manufacture  of  the  article,  occur- 
red— cotton  in  1826,  having  fallen,  in  England, 
as  low  as  11  9-10  to  18  9-10  cents  per  Ib.  The 
home  market,  then,  was  too  inconsiderable  to  be 
of  much  importance,  and  there  existed  little 
hope  of  its  enlargement  to  the  extent  demanded 
by  its  increasing  cultivation.  The  planters, 
therefore,  looked  abroad  to  the  existing  mar- 
kets, rather  than  to  wait  for  tardily  creating 
one  at  home.  For  success  in  the  foreign  mar- 
kets, they  relied,  mainly,  upon  preparing  them- 
selves to  produce  cotton  at  the  reduced  prices 
then  prevailing  in  Europe.  All  agricultural 

0  This  includes  the  period  from  1806,  to  1826,  though  the 
decline  began  a  few  years  before  the  later  date. 


66  COTTON  IS   KING. 

products,  except  cotton,  being  excluded  from 
foreign  markets,  the  planters  found  themselves 
almost  the  sole  exporters  of  the  country  ;  and  it 
was  to  them  a  source  of  chagrin,  that  the  North 
did  not,  at  once,  co-operate  with  them  in  aug- 
menting the  commerce  of  the  nation. 

At  this  point  in  the  history  of  the  contro- 
versy, politicians  found  it  an  easy  matter  to 
produce  feelings  of  the  deepest  hostility  be- 
tween the  opposing  parties.  The  planters  were 
led  to  believe  that  the  millions  of  revenue 
collected  off  the  goods  imported,  was  so  much 
deducted  from  the  value  of  the  cotton  that 
paid  for  them,  either  ^in  the  diminished  price 
they  received  abroad,  or  in  the  increased  price 
which  they  paid  for  the  imported  articles.  To 
enhance  the  duties,  for  the  protection  of  our 
manufactures,  they  were  persuaded,  would  be 
so  much  of  an  additional  tax  upon  themselves, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  North ;  and,  beside,  to 
give  the  manufacturer  such  a  monopoly  of  the 
home  market  for  his  fabrics,  would  enable  him 
to  charge  purchasers  an  excess  over  the  true 
value  of  his  stuffs,  to  the  whole  amount  of  the 


COTTON  IS  KING.  67 

duty.  By  the  protective  policy,  the  planters 
expected  to  have  the  cost  of  both  provisions  and 
clothing  increased,  and  their  ability  to  mono- 
polize the  foreign  markets  diminished  in  a 
corresponding  degree.  If  they  could  establish 
Free  trade,  it  would  insure  the  American  mar- 
ket to  foreign  manufacturers ;  secure  the  foreign 
markets  for  their  leading  staple  ;  repress  home 
manufactures ;  force  a  larger  number  of  the 
Northern  men  into  agriculture;  multiply  the 
growth,  and  diminish  the  price  of  provisions ; 
feed  and  clothe  their  slaves  at  lower  rates ; 
produce  their  cotton  for  a  third  or  fourth  of 
former  prices ;  rival  all  other  countries  in  its 
cultivation ;  monopolize  the  trade  in  the  article 
throughout  the  whole  of  Europe ;  and  build  up 
a  commerce  and  a  navy  that  would  make  us  the 
ruler  of  the  seas. 

But,  to  understand  the  sentiments  of  the 
South,  on  the  Protective  policy,  as  expressed  by 
its  statesmen,  we  must  again  quote  from  the 
Congressional  Debates  of  1824 : 

Mr.  HAYNE,  of  South  Carolina,  said:  "But 
how,  I  would  seriously  ask,  is  it  possible  for 


68  COTTON  IS  KING. 

the  home  market  to  supply  the  place  of  the 
foreign  market,  for  our  cotton?  We  supply 
Great  Britain  with  the  raw  material,  out  of 
which  she  furnishes  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
nay,  the  whole  world,  with  cotton  goods.  Now, 
suppose  our  manufactories  could  make  every 
yard  of  cloth  we  consume,  that  would  furnish  a 
home  market  for  more  than  20,000,000  Ibs.  out 
of  the  180,000,000  Ibs.  of  cotton  now  shipped 
to  Great  Britain;  leaving  on  our  hands  160,- 
000,000  Ibs.,  equal  to  two-thirds  of  our  whole 
produce.  *  **  *  °  *  ®  Considering  this 
scheme  of  promoting  certain  employments,  at 
the  expense  of  others,  as  unequal,  oppressive, 
and  unjust — viewing  prohibition  as  the  means, 
and  the  destruction  of  all  foreign  commerce  as 
the  end  of  this  policy — I  take  this  occasion  to 
declare,  that  we  shall  feel  ourselves  justified  in 
embracing  the  very  first  opportunity  of  repeal- 
ing all  such  laws  as  may  be  passed  for  the 
promotion  of  these  objects." 

Mr.  CARTER,  of  South  Carolina,  said :  "  An- 
other danger  to  which  the  present  measure 
would  expose  this  country,  and  one  in  which 


COTTON  IS  KING.  69 

the  Southern  States  have  a  deep  and  vital 
interest,  would  be  the  risk  we  incur,  by  this 
system  of  exclusion,  of  driving  Great  Britain 
to  countervailing  measures,  and  inducing  all 
other  countries,  with  whom  the  United  States 
have  any  considerable  trading  connections,  to 
resort  to  measures  of  retaliation.  There  are 
countries  possessing  vast  capacities  for  the  pro- 
duction of  rice,  of  cotton,  and  of  tobacco,  to 
which  England  might  resort  to  supply  herself. 
She  might  apply  herself  to  Brazil,  Bengal,  and 
Egypt,  for  her  cotton ;  to  South  America,  as 
well  as  to  her  colonies,  for  her  tobacco ;  and  to 
China  and  Turkey  for  her  rice." 

Mr.  Go  VAN,  of  South  Carolina,  said :  "  The 
effect  of  this  measure  on  the  cotton,  rice,  and 
tobacco  growing  States,  will  be  pernicious  in 
the  extreme: — it  will  exclude  them  from  those 
markets  where  they  depended  almost  entirely 
for  a  sale  of  those  articles,  and  force  Great 
Britain  to  encourage  the  cottons,  (Brazil,  Eio 
Janeiro,  and  Buenos  Ayres,)  which,  in  a  short 
time,  can  be  brought  in  competition  with  us. 
Nothing  but  the  consumption  of  British  goods 


70  COTTON  IS   KING. 

in  this  country,  received  in  exchange,  can  sup- 
port a  command  of  the  cotton  market  to  the 
Southern  planter.  It  is  one  thing  very  certain, 
she  will  not  come  here  with  her  gold  and  silver 
to  trade  with  W  ,  And  should  Great  Britain, 
pursuing  the  principles  of  her  reciprocal  duty 
act,  of  last  June,  l&y  three  or  four  cents  on  our 
cotton,  where  would-,  I  ask,  be  our  surplus  of 
cotton?  It  is  well-known  that  the  United 
States  can  not  manufacture  one-fourth  of  the 
cotton  that  is  in  it;  and,  should  we,  by  our 
imprudent  legislative  enactments,  in  pursuing 
to  such  an  extent  this  restrictive  system,  force 
Great  Britain  to  shut  her  ports  against  us,  it 
will  paralyze  the  whole  trade  of  the  Southern 
country.  This  export  trade,  which  composes 
five-sixths  of  the  export  trade  of  the  United 
States,  will  be  swept  entirely  from  the  ocean, 
and  leave  but  a  melancholy  wreck  behind." 

It  is  necessary,  also,  to  add  a  few  additional 
extracts,  from  the  speeches  of  Northern  states- 
men, during  this  discussion. 

Mr.  MARTINDALE,  of  New  York,  said :  "  Does 
not  the  agriculture  of  the  country  languish, 


COTTON   IS  KING.  71 

and  the  laborer  stand  still,  because,  beyond  the 
supply  of  food  for  his  own  family,  Ms  produce 
perishes  on  his  hands,  or  his  fields  li?  waste  and 
fallow ;  and  this  because  his  accustomed  market 


is  closed  against  him  ?     It  does;,  sir. 


A  twenty  years'  war  in  Europe,  which  drew 
into  its  vortex  all  its  various  Nations,  made  our 
merchants  the  carriers  of  a  -large  portion  of  the 
world,  and  our  farmers  tire  feeders  of  immense 
belligerent  armies.  Aw  unexampled  activity 
and  increase  in  our;,  commerce  followed — our 
agriculture  extended  itself,  grew,  and  flourished. 
An  unprecedenj^flf  demand  gave  the  farmer  an 
extraordinary  price  for  his  produce.  °  °  * 
Imports  kept  pace  with  exports,  and  consump- 
tion with  'both.  °  °  *  Peace  came  into 
Europe,  and  shut  out  our  exports,  and  found  us 
in  war  with  England,  which  almost  cut  off  our 
imports.  °  *  °  Now  we  felt  how  comfort- 
able it  was  to  have  plenty  of  food,  but  no 
clothing.  °  **  *  Now  we  felt  the  imperfect 
organization  of  our  system.  Now  we  saw  the 
imperfect  distribution  and  classification  of  labor. 


72  COTTON  IS   KING. 

o  o  *  Here  is  the  explanation  of  our  oppo- 
site views.  It  is  employment,  after  all,  that 
we  are  all  in  search  of.  It  is  a  market  for  our 
lahor  and  our  produce,  which  we  all  want,  and 
all  contend  for.  '  Buy  foreign  goods,  that  we 
may  import/  say  the  merchants :  it  will  make 
a  market  for  importations,  and  find  employment 
for  our  ships.  Buy  English  manufactures,  say 
the  cotton  planters ;  England  will  take  our 
cotton  in  exchange.  Thus  the  merchant  and 
the  cotton  planter  fully  appreciate  the  value  of 
a  market  when  they  find  their  own  encroached 
upon.  The  farmer  and  manufacturer  claim  to 
participate  in  the  benefits  of  a  market  for  their 
lahor  and  produce ;  and  hence  this  protracted 
dehate  and  struggle  of  contending  interests. 
It  is  a  contest  for  a  market  hetween  the  cotton 
grower  and  merchant  on  one  side,  and  the 
farmer  and  manufacturer  on  the  other.  That 
the  manufacturer  would  furnish  this  market  to 
the  farmer,  admits  no  douht.  The  farmer 
should  reciprocate  the  favor;  and  government 
is  now  called  upon  to  render  this  market  acces- 


COTTON  IS  KING.  73 

sible  to  foreign  fabrics  for  the  mutual  benefit 
of  both.  *  °  °  This,  then,  is  the  remedy 
we  propose,  sir,  for  the  evils  which  we  suffer. 
Place  the  mechanic  by  the  side  of  the  farmer, 
that  the  manufacturer  who  makes  our  cloth, 
should  make  it  from  our  farmers'  wool,  flax, 
hemp,  etc.,  and  be  fed  by  our  farmers'  provi- 
sions. Draw  forth  our  iron  from  our  own 
mountains,  and  we  shall  not  drain  our  coun- 
try in  the  purchase  of  the  foreign.  *  °  * 
We  propose,  sir,  to  supply  our  own  wants 
from  our  own  resources,  by  the  means  which 
God  and  Nature  have  placed  in  our  hands. 
o  o  0  But  here  is  a  question  of  sectional 
interest,  which  elicits  unfriendly  feelings  and 
determined  hostility  to  the  bill.  **  °  *  The 
cotton,  rice,  tobacco,  and  indigo  growers  of  the 
Southern  States,  claim  to  be  deeply  affected 
and  injured  by  this  system.  °  *  *  Let  us 
inquire  if  the  Southern  planter  does  not 
demand  what,  in  fact,  he  denies  to  others. 
And  now,  what  does  he  require?  That  the 
North  and  West  should  buy  —  what  ?  Not 
their  cotton,  tobacco,  etc.,  for  that  we  dp 
6 


74  COTTON   IS   KING. 

already,  to  the  utmost  of  our  ability  to  con- 
sume, or  pay,  or  vend  to  others ;  and  that  is  to 
an  immense  amount,  greatly  exceeding  what 
they  purchase  of  us.  But  they  insist  that  we 
should  buy  English  wool,  wrought  into  cloth, 
that  they  may  pay  for  it  with  their  cotton ; 
that  we  should  buy  Kussia  iron,  that  they  may 
sell  their  cotton ;  that  we  should  buy  Holland 
gin  and  linen,  that  they  may  sell  their  tobacco. 
In  fine,  that  we  should  not  grow  wool ;  and  dig 
and  smelt  iron  of  the  country;  for,  if  we  did, 
they  could  not  sell  their  cotton."  [On  another 
occasion,  he  said] :  "  Gentlemen  say  they  will 
oppose  every  part  of  the  Bill.  They  will,  there- 
fore, move  to  strike  out  every  part  of  it.  And, 
on  every  such  motion,  we  shall  hear  repeated, 
as  we  have  done  already,  the  same  objections: 
that  it  will  ruin  trade  and  commerce ;  that  it 
will  destroy  the  revenue,  and  prostrate  the 
navy ;  that  it  will  enhance  the  prices  of  articles 
of  the  first  necessity,  and  thus  be  taxing  the 
poor ;  and  that  it  will  destroy  the  cotton  mar- 
ket, and  stop  the  further  growth  of  cotton." 
Mr.  BUCHANAN,  of  Pennsylvania,  said:  "No 


•  COTTON   IS    KING.  75 

nation  can  be  perfectly  independent,  which 
depends  upon  foreign  countries  for  its  supply  of 
iron.  It  is  an  article  equally  necessary  in 
peace  and  in  war.  Without  a  plentiful  supply 
of  it,  we  can  not  provide  for  the  common 
defense.  Can  we  so  soon  have  forgotten  the 
lesson  which  experience  taught  us  during  the 
late  war  with  Great  Britain?  Our  foreign 
supply  was  then  cut  off,  and  we  could  not 
manufacture  in  sufficient  quantities  for  the 
increased  domestic  demand.  The  price  of  the 
article  became  extravagant,  and  both  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  agriculturist  were  compelled 
to  pay  double  the  sum  for  which  they  might 
have  purchased  it,  had  its  manufacture,  before 
that  period,  been  encouraged  by  proper  protect- 
ing duties." 

Sugar  cane,  at  that  period,  had  become  an 
article  of  culture  in  Louisiana,  and  efforts  were 
made  to  persuade  her  planters  into  the  adoption 
of  the  Free  trade  system.  It  was  urged  that 
they  could  more  effectually  resist  foreign  com- 
petition, and  extend  their  business,  by  a  cheap 
supply  of  food,  than  by  protective  duties.  But 


76  COTTON  IS  KING. 

the  Louisianians  were  too  wise  not  to  know, 
that  though  they  would  certainly  obtain  cheap 
provisions  by  the  destruction  of  Northern  manu- 
factures; still,  this  would  not  enable  them  to 
compete  with  the  cheaper  labor  supplied  by  the 
Slave-trade  to  the  Cubans. 

The  West,  for  many  years,  gave  its  undivided 
support  to  the  manufacturing  interests,  thereby 
obtaining  a  heavy  duty  on  hemp,  wool,  and 
foreign  distilled  spirits:  thus  securing  encour- 
agement to  its  hemp  and  wool  growers,  and  the 
monopoly  of  the  home  market  for  its  whisky. 
The  distiller  and  the  manufacturer,  under  this 
system,  were  equally  ranked  as  public  benefac- 
tors, as  each  increased  the  consumption  of  the 
surplus  products  of  the  farmer.  The  grain  of 
the  West  could  find  no  remunerative  market, 
except  as  fed  to  domestic  animals,  for  droving 
East  and  South,  or  distilled  into  whisky,  which 
would  bear  transportation.  Take  a  fact  in 
proof  of  this  assertion.  Hon.  HENRY  BALDWIN, 
of  Pittsburgh,  at  a  public  dinner  given  him  by 
the  friends  of  General  Jackson,  in  Cincinnati, 
May,  1828,  in  referring  to  the  want  of  markets, 


COTTON  IS  KING.  77 

for  the  farmers  of  the  West,  said,  "  He  was 
certain,  the  aggregate  of  their  agricultural 
produce,  finding  a  market  in  Europe,  would  not 
pay  for  the  pins  and  needles  they  imported." 

The  markets  in  the  Southwest,  now  so  im- 
portant, were  then  quite  limited.  As  the 
Protective  system,  coupled  with  the  contem- 
plated internal  improvements,  if  successfully 
accomplished,  would  inevitably  tend  to  enhance 
the  price  of  agricultural  products  ;  while  the 
Free  trade  and  anti-internal  improvement  policy, 
would  as  certainly  reduce  their  value ;  the  two 
systems  were  long  considered  so  antagonistic, 
that  the  success  of  the  one  must  sound  the 
knell  of  the  other.  Indeed,  so  fully  was  Ohio 
impressed  with  the  necessity  of  promoting 
manufactures,  that  all  capital,  thus  employed, 
was  for  many  years  entirely  exempt  from  tax- 
ation. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  friends  of  protection 
appealed  to  the  fact,  that  the  duties  levied  on 
foreign  goods  did  not  necessarily  enhance  their 
cost   to   the   consumer;   that    the   competition^, 
among  home  manufacturers,  and  between  them 


78  COTTON  IS  KING. 

and  foreigners,  had  greatly  reduced  the  price 
of  nearly  every  article  properly  protected ;  that 
foreign  manufacturers  always  had,  and  always 
would  advance  their  prices  according  to  our 
dependence  upon  them  ;  that  domestic  competi- 
tion was  the  only  safety  the  country  had  against 
foreign  imposition;  that  it  was  necessary  we 
should  become  our  own  manufacturers,  in  a 
fair  degree,  to  render  ourselves  independent  of 
other  nations  in  times  of  war,  as  well  as  to 
guard  against  the  vacillations  in  foreign  legis- 
lation ;  that  the  South  would  be  vastly  the 
gainer  by  having  the  market  for  its  products  at 
its  own  doors,  to  avoid  the  cost  of  their  transit 
across  the  Atlantic ;  that,  in  the  event  of  the 
repression  or  want  of  proper  extension  of  our 
manufactures,  by  the  adoption  of  the  free  trade 
system,  the  imports  of  foreign  goods,  to  meet 
the  public  wants,  would  soon  exceed  the  ability 
of  the  people  to  pay,  and,  inevitably,  involve 
the  country  in  bankruptcy. 

Southern  politicians  remained  inflexible,  and 
refused  to  accept  any  policy  except  free  trade, 
to  the  utter  abandonment  of  the  principle  of 


COTTON   IS   KING.  79 

protection.  Whether  they  were  jealous  of  the 
greater  prosperity  of  the  North,  and  desirous 
to  cripple  its  energies,  or  whether  they  were 
truly  fearful  of  bankrupting  the  South,  we 
shall  not  wait  to  inquire.  Justice  demands, 
however,  that  we  should  state,  that  the  South 
was  suffering  from  the  stagnation  in  the  cotton 
trade  existing  throughout  Europe.  The  plant- 
ers had  been  unused  to  the  low  prices,  for  that 
staple,  they  were  compelled  to  accept.  They 
had  no  prospect  of  an  adequate  home  market 
for  many  years  to  come,  and  there  were  indica- 
tions that  they  might  lose  the  one  they  already 
possessed.  The  West  Indies  was  still  Slave 
territory,  and  attempting  to  recover  its  early 
position  in  the  English  market.  This  it  had  to 
do,  or  be  forced  into  emancipation.  The  power- 
ful Viceroy  of  Egypt,  Mehemet  Ali,  was  endeav- 
oring to  compel  his  subjects  to  grow  cotton  on 
an  enlarged  scale.  The  newly  organized  South 
American  republics  were  assuming  an  aspect  of 
commercial  consequence,  and  might  commence 
its  cultivation.  The  East  Indies  and  Brazil 
were  supplying  to  Great  Britain  from  one-third 


80  COTTON   IS   KING. 

to   one-half  of    the   cotton   she   was    annually 
manufacturing.     The  other  half,  or  two-thirds, 
she  might  obtain  from  other  sources,  and  repu- 
diate all  traffic  with   our  planters.     Southern 
men,  therefore,  could  not  conceive  of  anything 
but   ruin   to   themselves,  by  any  considerable 
advance   in   duties  on  foreign  imports.     They 
understood    the    protective   policy   as  contem- 
plating the  supply  of  our  country  with  home 
manufactured  articles,  to  the  exclusion  of  those 
of  foreign  countries.     This  would  confine  the 
planters  in  the  sale  of  their  cotton,  mainly  to 
the  American  market,  and  leave  them  in  the 
power  of  moneyed  corporations ;  which,  possess- 
ing the  ability,  might  control  the  prices  of  their 
staple,  to  the  irreparable  injury  of  the  South. 
With  Slave  labor  they  could  not  become  manu- 
facturers, and  must,  therefore,  remain  at  the 
mercy   of    the   North,   both    as    to   food   and 
clothing,  unless  the  European  markets  should 
be  retained.     Out  of  this  conviction  grew  the 
war   upon  Corporations;  the   hostility   to   the 
employment   of  foreign  capital   in   developing 
the   mineral,  agricultural,  and  manufacturing 


COTTON   IS  KING.  81 

resources  of  the  country;  the  efforts  to  destroy 
the  banks  and  the  credit  system ;  the  attempts 
to  reduce  the  currency  to  gold  and  silver ;  the 
system  of  collecting  the  public  revenues  in 
coin ;  the  withdrawal  of  the  public  moneys  from 
all  banks,  as  a  basis  of  paper  circulation ;  and 
the  sleepless  vigilance  of  the  South,  in  resisting 
all  systems  of  internal  improvements  by  the 
General  Government.  Its  statesmen  foresaw, 
that  a  paper  currency  would  keep  up  the  price 
of  Northern  products  one  or  two  hundred  per 
cent,  above  the  specie  standard ;  that  combina- 
tions of  capitalists,  whether  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing wool,  cotton,  or  iron,  would  draw  off 
labor  from  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  cause 
large  bodies  of  the  producers  to  become  con- 
sumers ;  and  that  roads  and  canals,  connecting 
the  West  with  the  East,  were  effectual  means 
of  bringing  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
classes  into  closer  proximity,  to  the  serious 
limitation  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the 
country,  the  checking  of  the  growth  of  the 
navy,  and  the  manifest  injury  of  the  planters. 
This  tariff  and  free  trade  controversy  was 
7 


82  COTTON  IS  KING. 

far  from  what  it  is  now  imagined  to  have  been. 
People,  on  both  sides,  were  often  in  great 
straits  to  know  how  to  obtain  a  livelihood,  much 
less  to  amass  fortunes.  The  word  ruin  was  no 
unmeaning  phrase  to  the  people  of  that  day. 
The  news,  now,  that  a  bank  has  failed,  carries 
with  it,  to  the  depositors  and  holders  of  its 
notes,  no  stronger  feelings  of  consternation, 
than  did  the  report  of  the  passage  or  repeal  of 
tariff  laws,  then  affect  the  minds  of  the  opposing 
parties.  We  have  spoken  of  the  peculiar  con- 
dition of  the  South  in  this  respect.  In  the 
West,  for  many  years,  the  farmers  often 
received  no  more  than  twenty-five  cents,  and 
rarely  over  forty  cents  per  bushel  for  their 
wheat,  after  conveying  it,  on  horseback,  or  in 
wagons,  not  unfrequently  a  distance  of  fifty 
miles,  to  find  a  market.  Other  products  were 
proportionally  low  in  price ;  and  such  was  the 
difficulty  in  obtaining  money,  that  people  could 
not  pay  their  taxes  but  with  the  greatest  sacri- 
fices. So  deeply  were  the  people  interested  in 
these  questions  of  national  policy,  that  they 
became  the  basis  of  political  action  during 


COTTON   IS   KING.  83 

• 

several  Presidential  elections.  This  led  to 
much  vacillation  in  legislation  on  the  subject, 
and  gave  alternately,  to  one  and  then  to  the 
other  section  of  the  Union,  the  benefits  of  its 
favorite  policy. 

The  vote  of  the  West,  during  this  struggle, 
was  of  the  first  importance,  as  it  possessed  the 
balance  of  power,  and  could  turn  the  scale  at 
will.  It  was  not  left  without  inducements  to 
co-operate  with  the  South,  in  its  measures  for 
extending  slavery,  that  it  might  create  a  mar- 
ket among  the  planters  for  its  products.  This 
appears  from  the  particular  efforts  made  by  the 
Southern  members  of  Congress,  during  the 
debate  of  1824,  to  win  over  the  West  to  the  doc- 
trines of  Free  trade. 

Mr.  McDuFFiE,  of  South  Carolina,  said :  "  I 
admit  that  the  Western  people  are  embarrassed, 
but  I  deny  that  they  are  distressed,  in  any  other 
sense  of  the  word.  °  °  I  am  well  assured 
that  the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  West  de- 
pends more  upon  the  improvement  of  the  means 
of  transporting  their  produce  to  market,  and  of 
receiving  the  returns,  than  upon  every  other 


84  COTTON  IS   KING. 

subject  to  which  the  legislation  of  this  govern- 
ment can  be  directed.  °  *  Gentlemen  (from 
the  West)  are  aware  that  a  very  profitable  trade 
is  carried  on  by  their  constituents  with  the 
Southern  country,  in  live  stock  of  all  descriptions, 
which  they  drive  over  the  mountains  and  sell 
for  cash.  This  extensive  trade,  which,  from  its 
peculiar  character,  more  easily  overcomes  the 
difficulties  of  transportation  than  any  that  can 
be  substituted  in  its  place,  is  about  to  be  put  in 
jeopardy  for  the  conjectural  benefits  of  this  meas- 
ure. When  I  say  this  trade  is  about  to  be  put 
in  jeopardy,  I  do  not  speak  unadvisedly.  I  am 
perfectly  convinced  that,  if  this  bill  passes,  it 
will  have  the  effect  of  inducing  the  people  of 
the  South,  partly  from  the  feeling  and  partly 
from  the  necessity  growing  out  of  it,  to  raise 
within  themselves,  the  live  stock  which  they 
now  purchase  from  the  West.  °  °  If  we 
cease  to  take  the  manufactures  of  Great  Britain, 
she  will  assuredly  cease  to  take  our  cotton  to 
the  same  extent.  It  is  a  settled  principle  of  her 
policy — a  principle  not  only  wise,  but  essential 
to  her  existence — to  purchase  from  those  nations 


COTTON  IS  KING.  85 

that  receive  her  manufactures,  in  preference  to 
those  who  do  not.  You  have,  heretofore,  heen 
her  hest  customers,  and  therefore,  it  has  been 
her  policy  to  purchase  our  cotton  to  the  full 
extent  of  our  demand  for  her  manufactures. 
But,  say  gentlemen,  Great  Britain  does  not 
purchase  your  cotton  from  affection,  but  from 
interest.  I  grant  it,  sir ;  and  that  is  the  very 
reason  of  my  decided  hostility  to  a  system  which 
will  make  it  her  interest  to  purchase  from  other 
countries  in  preference  to  our  own.  It  is  her 
interest  to  purchase  cotton,  even  at  a  higher 
price,  from  those  countries  which  receive  her 
manufactures  in  exchange.  It  is  better  for  her 
to  give  a  little  more  for  cotton,  than  to  obtain 
nothing  for  her  manufactures.  It  will  be 
remarked  that  the  situation  of  Great  Britain  is, 
in  this  respect,  widely  different  from  that  of  the 
United  States.  The  powers  of  her  soil  have 
been  already  pushed  very  nearly  to  the  maxi- 
mum of  their  productiveness.  The  productive- 
ness of  her  manufactures,  on  the  contrary,  is  as 
unlimited  as  the  demand  of  the  whole  world. 
*  °  In  fact,  sir,  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  is 


86  COTTON  IS  KING. 

not,  as  gentlemen  seem  to  suppose,  to  secure  the 
"home,  but  the  foreign  market  for  her  manu- 
factures. The  former  she  has  without  an  effort. 
It  is  to  attain  the  latter,  that  all  her  policy  and 
enterprise  are  brought  into  requisition.  The 
manufactures  of  that  country  are  the  basis  of  her 
commerce;  our  manufactures,  on  the  contrary, 
are  to  be  the  destruction  of  our  commerce.  °  ° 
It  can  not  be  doubted,  that,  in  pursuance  of  the 
policy  of  forcing  her  manufactures  into  foreign 
markets,  she  will,  if  deprived  of  a  large  portion 
of  our  custom,  direct  all  her  efforts  to  South 
America.  That  country  abounds  in  a  soil  admi- 
rably adapted  to  the  production  of  cotton,  and 
will,  for  a  century  to  come,  import  her  manu- 
factures from  foreign  countries." 

Mr.  HAMILTON,  of  South  Carolina,  said :  "  That 
the  planters  in  his  section  shared  in  that  depres- 
sion which  is  common  to  every  department  of 
the  industry  of  the  Union,  excepting  those  from 
which  we  have  heard  the  most  clamor  for  relief. 
This  would  be  understood  when  it  was  known 
that  sea-island  cotton  had  fallen  from  50  or  60 
cents,  to  25  cents — a  fall  even  greater  than  that 


COTTON  is  KING'.  87 

which  has  attended  wheat,  of  which  we  had 
heard  so  much — as  if  the  grain-growing  section 
was  the  only  agricultural  interest  which  had 
suffered.  »  <*  While  the  planters  of  this 
region  do  not  dread  competition  in  the  foreign 
markets  on  equal  terms,  from  the  superiority  of 
their  cotton,  they  entertain  a  well-founded  appre- 
hension, that  the  restrictions  contemplated  will 
lead  to  retaliatory  duties  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain,  which  must  end  in  ruin.  °  °  In 
relation  to  our  upland  cottons,  Great  Britain 
may,  without  difficulty,  in  the  course  of  a  very 
short  period,  supply  her  wants  from  Brazil.  **  ° 
How  long  the  exclusive  production,  even  of  the 
sea-island  cotton,  will  remain  to  our  country,  is 
yet  a  doubtful  and  interesting  problem.  The 
experiments  that  are  making  on  the  Delta  of 
the  Nile,  if  pushed  to  the  Ocean,  may  result  in 
the  production  of  this  beautiful  staple,  in  an 
abundance  which,  in  reference  to  other  produc- 
tions, has  long  blest  and  consecrated  Egyptian 
fertility.  °  °  We  are  told  by  the  honorable 
Speaker  (Mr.  Clay),  that  our  manufacturing 
establishments  will,  in  a  very  short  period, 


88  COTTON   IS   KING. 

supply  the  place  of  the  foreign  demand.  The 
futility,  I  will  not  say  mockery  of  this  hope,  may 
be  measured  by  one  or  two  facts.  First,  the 
present  consumption  of  cotton,  by  our  manufac- 
tories, is  about  equal  to  one-sixth  of  our  whole 
production.  °  °  How  long  it  will  take  to 
increase  these  manufactories  to  a  scale  equal  to 
the  consumption  of  this  production,  he  could  not 
venture  to  determine ;  but  that  it  will  be  some 
years  after  the  epitaph  will  have  been  written 
on  the  fortunes  of  the  South,  there  can  be  little 
doubt."  °  °  [After  speaking  of  the  tendency 
of  increased  manufactures  in  the  East,  to  check 
emigration  to  the  West,  and  thus  to  dimmish 
the  value  of  the  public  lands  and  prevent  the 
growth  of  the  Western  States,  Mr.  H.  proceeded 
thus:]  "  That  portion  of  the  Union  could  par- 
ticipate in  no  part  of  the  bill,  except  in  its  bur- 
dens, in  spite  of  the  fallacious  hopes  that  were 
cherished,  in  reference  to  cotton-bagging  for 
Kentucky,  and  the  woolen  duty  for  Steubenville, 
Ohio.  He  feared  that  to  the  entire  region  of 
the  West,  no  *  cordial  drops  of  comfort '  would 
come,  even  in  the  duty  on  foreign  spirits.  To  a 


COTTON   IS   KING.  89 

large  portion  of  our  people,  who  are  in  the  habit 
of  solacing  themselves  with  Hollands,  Antigua, 
and  Cogniac,  whisky,  would  still  have  '  a  most 
villainous  twang.'  The  cup,  he  feared,  would 
be  refused,  though  tendered  by  the  hand  of 
patriotism  as  well  as  conviviality.  No,  the 
West  has  but  one  interest,  and  that  is,  that  its 
best  customer,  the  South,  should  be  prosperous." 
Mr.  EANKIN,  of  Mississippi,  said :  "  With  the 
West,  it  appears  to  me  like  a  rebellion  of  the 
members  against  the  body.  It  is  true,  we  export, 
but  the  amount  received  from  those  exports  is 
only  apparently,  largely  in  our  favor,  inasmuch 
as  we  are  the  consumers  of  your  produce,  depend- 
ent on  you  for  our  implements  of  husbandry, 
the  means  of  sustaining  life,  and  almost  every- 
thing except  our  lands  and  negroes  ;  all  of  which 
draws  much  from  the  apparent  profits  and  ad- 
vantages. In  proportion  as  you  diminish  our 
exportations,  you  diminish  our  means  of  pur- 
chasing from  you,  and  destroy  your  own  market. 
You  will  compel  us  to  use  those  advantages  of 
soil  and  of  climate  which  God  and  Nature  have 
placed  within  our  reach,  and  to  live,  as  to  you, 


90  COTTON  IS  KING. 

as  you  desire  us  to  live  as  to  foreign  nations — 
dependent  on  our  own  resources." 

Mr.  GARNETT,  of  Virginia,  said:  "  The  West- 
ern States  can  not  manufacture.  The  want  of 
capital  (of  which  they,  as  well  as  the  Southern 
States,  have  been  drained  by  the  policy  of  gov- 
ernment), and  other  causes,  render  it  impossible. 
The  Southern  States  are  destined  to  suffer  more 
by  this  policy  than  any  other  —  the  Western 
next;  but  it  will  not  benefit  the  aggregate 
population  of  any  State.  It  is  for  the  benefit  of 
capitalists  only.  If  persisted  in,  it  will  drive 
the  South  to  ruin  or  resistance." 

Mr.  CUTHBERT,  of  Georgia,  said :  "  He  hoped 
the  market  for  the  cotton  of  the  South  was  not 
about  to  be  contracted  within  a  little  miserable 
sphere,  the  [home  market],  instead  of  being 
spread  throughout  the  world.  If  they  should 
drive  the  cotton-growers  from  the  only  source 
from  whence  their  means  were  derived  [the  for- 
eign market],  they  would  be  unable  to  take  any 
longer  their  supplies  from  the  West — they  must 
contract  their  concerns  within  their  own  spheres, 
and  begin  to  raise  flesh  and  grain  for  their  own 


COTTON  IS  KING.  91 

consumption.  The  South  was  already  under  a 
severe  pressure — if  this  measure  went  into  effect, 
its  distress  would  be  consummated." 

In  1828,  the  West  found  still  very  limited 
means  of  communication  with  the  East.  The 
opening  of  the  New  York  canal,  in  1825,  created 
a  means  of  traffic  with  the  seaboard,  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Lake  region ;  but  all  of  the  remain- 
ing territory,  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  had  gained 
no  advantages  over  those  it  had  enjoyed  in  1824, 
except  so  far  as  steamboat  navigation  had  pro- 
gressed on  the  Western  rivers.  In  the  debate 
preceding  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1828, 
usually  termed  the  "  Woolens'  Bill,"  allusion  is 
made  to  the  condition  of  the  West,  from  which 
we  quote  as  follows : 

Mr.  WICKLIFFE,  of  Kentucky,  said:  "My 
constituents  may  be  said  to  be  a  grain-growing 
people.  They  raise  stock,  and  their  surplus 
grain  is  converted  into  spirits.  Where,  I  ask, 
is  our  market?  °  °  Our  market  is  where 
our  sympathies  should  be,  in  the  South.  Our 
course  of  trade,  for  all  heavy  articles,  is  down 
the  Mississippi.  What  breadstuffs  we  find  a 


92  COTTON   IS  KING. 

market  for,  are  principally  consumed  in  the 
States  of  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  South  Alabama, 
and  Florida.  Indeed,  I  may  say,  these  States 
are  the  consumers,  at  miserable  and  ruinous 
prices  to  the  farmers  in  my  State,  of  our  exports 
of  spirits,  corn,  flour,  and  cured  provisions.  *  * 
We  have  had  a  trade  of  some  value  to  the  South 
in  our  stock.  We  still  continue  it  under  great 
disadvantages.  It  is  a  ready-money  trade — I 
might  say  it  is  the  only  money  trade  in  which 
we  are  engaged.  °  *  Are  gentlemen  ac- 
quainted with  the  extent  of  that  trade  ?  It  may 
be  fairly  stated  at  three  millions  per  annum." 

Mr.  BENTON,  urged  the  Western  members  to 
unite  with  the  South,  "  for  the  purpose  of  enlarg- 
ing the  market,  increasing  the  demand  in  the 
South  and  its  ability  to  purchase  the  horses, 
mules,  and  provisions,  which  the  West  could  sell 
nowhere  else." 

The  tariff'  of  1828,  created  great  dissatisfac- 
tion at  the  South.  Examples  of  the  expressions 
of  public  sentiment,  on  the  subject,  adopted  at 
conventions,  and  on  other  occasions,  might  be 
multiplied  indefinitely.  Take  a  case  or  two,  to 


COTTON   IS   KING.  93 

* 

illustrate  the  whole.  At  a  public  meeting  in 
Georgia,  held  subsequently  to  the  passage  of 
the  "  Woolens'  Bill,"  the  following  resolution 
was  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  to  retaliate  as  far  as  possible  upon 
our  oppressors,  our  Legislature  be  requested  to  im- 
pose taxes,  amounting  to  prohibition,  on  the  hogs, 
horses,  mules,  and  cotton-bagging,  whisky,  pork,  beef, 
bacon,  flax,  and  hemp  cloth,  of  the  Western,  and  on 
all  the  productions  and  manufactures  of  the  Eastern 
and  Northern  States." 

Mr.  HAMILTON,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  speech 
at  the  Waterborough  Dinner,  given  subsequently 
to  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1828,  said:  "  It 
becomes  us  to  inquire  what  is  to  be  our  situation 
under  this  unexpected  and  disastrous  conjunc- 
ture of  circumstances,  which,  in  its  progress,  will 
deprive  us  of  the  benefits  of  a  free  trade  with 
the  rest  of  the  world,  which  formed  one  of  the 
leading  objects  of  the  Union.  Why,  gentlemen, 
ruin,  unmitigated  ruin,  must  be  our  portion,  if 
this  system  continues.  °  °  From  181 6  down 
to  the  present  time,  the  South  has  been  drugged, 
by  the  slow  poison  of  the  miserable  empiricism 


94  COTTON   IS   KING. 


of  the  prohibitory  system,  the  fatal  effects  of 
which  we  could  not  so  long  have  resisted,  "but 
for  the  stupendously  valuable  staples  with  which 
God  has  blessed  us,  and  the  agricultural  skill 
and  enterprise  of  our  people."  ?  y 

The  opening  of  the  year  1832,  found  the 
parties  to  this  controversy  once  more  engaged, 
in  earnest  debate,  on  the  floor  of  Congress ;  and 
midsummer  witnessed  the  passage  of  a  new 
Tariff  Bill,  including  the  principle  of  Protec- 
tion. Its  enactment  led  to  the  movements  in 
South  Carolina  toward  secession;  and,  to  avert 
the  threatened  evil,  the  Bill  was  modified,  in 
the  following  year,  so  as  to  make  it  acceptable 
to  the  South;  and,  so  as,  also,  to  settle  the 
policy  of  the  Government  for  the  succeeding 
nine  years.  A  few  extracts  from  the  debates  of 
1832,  will  serve  to  show  what  were  the  senti- 
ments of  the  members  of  Congress,  as  to  the 
effects  of  the  protective  policy  on  the  different 
sections  of  the  Union,  up  to  that  date : 

Mr.  HAYNE,  of  South  Carolina,  said : 
the  policy  of  724  went  into  operation,  the  South 
was  supplied  from  the  West,  through  a  single 


N 


COTTON  IS  KING.  95 

avenue,  (the  Saluda  Mountain  Gap,)  with  live 

stock,  horses,  cattle,  and  hogs,  to  the  amount  of 

^/considerably  upward  of  a  million  of  dollars  a 

year.     Under  the  pressure  of  the  system,  this 

^y  *.   trade  has  Tbeen  Yegularly  diminishing.     It  has 

already  fallen   more   than  one-half.     °     °     ° 

In   consequence    of  the   dire  calamities  which 

the  system  has  inflicted  on  the  South — blasting 

tour  commerce,  and  withering  our  prosperity — 
the  West  has  been  very  nearly  deprived  of  her 
best  customer.  *  °  And  what  was  found 
to  be  the  result  of  four  years'  experience  at 
the  South  ?  Not  a  hope  fulfilled ;  not  one 
promise  performed;  and  our  condition  infinitely 
worse  than  it  had  been  four  years  before.  Sir, 
the  whole  South  rose  up  as  one  man,  and 
*  protested  against  any  farther  experiment  with 
this  system.  °  °  Sir,  I  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity "to  dispel  forever  the  delusion  that  the 
South  can  derive  any  compensation,  in  a  home 

/markjj,   for   the    injurious   operations   of  the 
proteAive   system.     °      °      What  a  spectacle 
do  you  even   now  exhibit   to   the  world?     A. 
I  large  portion  of  your  fellow  citizens,  believing 


96  COTTON   IS  KING. 

themselves  to  be  grievously  oppressed,  by  an 
unwise  and  unconstitutional  system,  are  clamor- 
ing at  your  doors  for  justice;  while  another 
portion,  supposing  that  they  are  enjoying  rich 
bounties  under  it,  are  treating  their  complaints 
with  scorn  and  contempt.  °  °  This  sys- 
tem may  destroy  the  South,  but  it  will  not 
permanently  advance  the  prosperity  of  the 
North.  It  may  depress  us,  but  can  not  elevate 
them.  Beside,  sir,  if  persevered  in,  it  must 
annihilate  that  portion  of  the  country  from 
which  the  resources  are  to  be  drawn.  And  it 
may  be  well  for  gentlemen  to  reflect,  whether 
adhering  to  this  policy  would  not  be  acting 
like  the  man  who  '  killed  the  goose  which  laid 
the  golden  eggs.'  Next  to  the  Christian 
religion,  I  consider  Free  Trade,  in  its  largest 
sense,  as  the  greatest  blessing  that  can  be 
conferred  on  any  people." 

Mr.  McDuiFiE,  of  South  Carolina,  said :  "  At 
the  close  of  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain, 
everything  in  the  political  and  commercial 
changes  resulting  from  the  general  peace,  indi- 
cated unparalleled  prosperity  to  the  Southern 


COTTON  IS   KING.  97 

States,  and  great  embarrassment  and  distress 
to  those  of  the  North.  The  nations  of  the 
Continent  had  all  directed  their  efforts  to  the 
business  of  manufacturing ;  and  all  Europe  may 
be  said  to  have  converted  their  swords  into 
machinery,  creating  unprecedented  demands  for 
cotton,  the  great  staple  of  the  Southern  States. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  history  of  commerce 
that  can  be  compared*  with  the  increased 
demand  for  this  staple,  notwithstanding  the 
restrictions  by  which  this  Government  has 
limited  that  demand.  As  cotton,  tobacco,  and 
rice  are  produced  only  on  a  small  portion  of 
the  globe,  while  all  other  agricultural  staples 
are  common  to  every  region  of  the  earth,  this 
circumstance  gave  the  planting  States  very 
gfreat  advantages.  To  cap  the  climax  of  the 
Gommercial  advantages  opened  to  the  cotton 
planters,  England,  their  great  and  most  valued 
customer,  received  their  cotton  under  a  mere 
nominal  duty.  On  the  other  hand,  the  pros- 
pects of  the  Northern  States  were  as  dismal  as 
those  of  the  Southern  States  were  brilliant. 

They  had  lost  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world, 

8 


98  COTTON  IS  KING. 

which  the  wars  of  Europe  had  thrown  into 
their  hands.  They  had  lost  the  demand  and  the 
high  prices  which  our  own  war  had  created  for 
their  grain  and  other  productions ;  and,  soon 
afterward,  they  also  lost  the  foreign  market  for 
their  grain,  owing,  partly,  to  foreign  corn  laws, 
but  still  more  to  other  causes.  Such  were  the 
prospects,  and  such  the  well  founded  hope  of 
the  Southern  States-  at  the  close  of  the  late 
war,  in  which  they  bore  so  glorious  a  part  in 
vindicating  the  freedom  of  trade.  But  where 
are  now  these  cheering  prospects  and  animating 
hopes?  Blasted,  sir- — utterly  blasted — by  the 
consuming  and  withering  course  of  a  system  of 
legislation  which  wages  an  exterminating  war 
against  the  blessings  of  commerce  and  the 
bounties  of  a  merciful  Providence ;  and  which, 
by  an  impious  perversion  of  language,  is  called 
"Protection."  *  *  *  I  will  now  add,  sir, 
my  deep  and  deliberate  conviction,  in  the  face 
of  all  the  miserable  cant  and  hypocrisy  with 
which  the  world  abounds  on  the  subject,  that 
any  course  of  measures  which  shall  hasten  the 
abolition  of  Slavery,  by  destroying  the  value  of 


COTTON   IS  KING.  99 

Slave  labor,  will  bring  upon  the  Southern 
States  the  greatest  political  calamity  with 
which  they  can  be  afflicted;  for  I  sincerely 
believe,  that  when  the  people  of  those  States 
shall  be  compelled,  by  such  means,  to  emanci- 
pate their  Slaves,  they  will  be  but  a  few 
degrees  above  the  condition  of  slaves  them- 
selves. Yes,  sir,  mark  what  I  say:  when  the 
people  of  the  South  cease  to  be  masters,  by  the 
tampering  influence  of  this  Government,  direct 
or  indirect,  they  will  assuredly  be  slaves.  It  is 
the  clear  and  distinct  perception  of  the  irresist- 
ible tendency  of  this  protective  system  to 
precipitate  us  upon  this  great  moral  and 
political  catastrophe,  that  has  animated  me  to 
raise  my  warning  voice,  that  my  fellow  citizens 
may  foresee,  and,  foreseeing,  avoid  the  destiny 
that  would  otherwise  befall  them.  *  *  ** 
And  here,  sir,  it  is  as  curious  as  it  is  melan- 
choly and  distressing,  to  see  how  striking  is 
the  analogy  between  the  Colonial  vassalage  to 
which  the  manufacturing  States  have  reduced 
the  planting  States,  and  that  which  formerly 
bound  the  Anglo-American  Colonies  to  the 


100  COTTON  IS  KING. 

British  Empire.  *  °  °  England  said  to 
her  American  Colonies,  You  shall  not  trade 
with  the  rest  of  the  world  for  such  manufac- 
tures as  are  produced  in  the  mother  country. 
The  manufacturing  States  say  to  their  Southern 
Colonies,  You  shall  not  trade  with  the  rest  of 
the  world  for  such  manufactures  as  we  produce, 
under  a  penalty  of  forty  per  cent,  upon  the 
value  of  every  cargo  detected  in  this  illicit 
commerce ;  which  penalty,  aforesaid,  shall  be 
levied,  collected,  and  paid,  out  of  the  products 
of  your  industry,  to  nourish  and  sustain  ours." 

Mr.  CLAY,  in  referring  to  the  condition  of 
the  country  at  large,  said :  "I  have  now  to 
perform  the  more  pleasing  task  of  exhibiting 
an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  existing  state  of 
the  unparalleled  prosperity  of  the  country. 
On  a  general  survey,  we  behold  cultivation 
extended ;  the  arts  flourishing ;  the  face  of  the 
country  improved ;  our  people  fully  and  profit- 
ably employed,  and  the  public  countenance 
exhibiting  tranquillity,  contentment,  and  happi- 
ness. And,  if  we  descend  into  particulars,  we 
have  the  agreeable  contemplation  of  a  people 


COTTON  IS  KING.  101 

out  of  debt ;  land  rising  slowly  in  value,  but  in 
a  secure  and  salutary  degree ;  a  ready,  though 
not  an  extravagant  market  for  all  the  surplus 
productions     of    our    industry;     innumerable 
flocks  and  herds  browsing  and  gamboling   on 
ten  thousand  hjlls  and  plains,  covered  with  rich 
and  verdant  grasses ;  our  cities  expanded,  and 
whole   villages  springing   up,  as   it   were,  by 
enchantment ;  our  exports  and  imports  increased 
and  increasing ;  our  tonnage,  foreign  and  coast- 
wise, swelled  and  fully  occupied;  the  rivers  of 
our  interior  animated  by  the  perpetual  thunder 
and   lightning   of  countless   steam-boats ;    the 
currency  sound  and  abundant ;  the  public  debt 
of  two  wars  nearly  redeemed;  and,  to   crown 
all,  the  public  treasury  overflowing,  embarrass- 
ing* Congress,  not  to  find  subjects  of  taxation, 
but  to  select  the  objects  which  shall  be  liberated 
from  the  impost.     If  the  term  of  seven  years 
were  to  be  selected,  of  the  greatest  prosperity 
which  this  people  have  enjoyed  since  the  estab- 
lishment of  their  present  Constitution,  it  would 
be   exactly  that  period  of  seven   years  which 


102  COTTON   IS  KING. 

immediately  followed  the  passage  of  the  tariff 
of  1824. 

"  This  transformation  of  the  condition  of  the 
country  from  gloom  and  distress  to  brightness 
and  prosperity,  has  been  mainly  the  work  of 
American  legislation,  fostering  American  indus- 
try, instead  of  allowing  it  to  be  controlled  by 
foreign  legislation,  cherishing  foreign  industry. 
The  foes  of  the  American  system,  in  1824, 
with  great  boldness  and  confidence,  predicted, 
first,  the  ruin  of  the  public  revenue,  and  the 
creation  of  a  necessity  to  resort  to  direct  taxa- 
tion. The  gentleman  from  South  Carolina, 
(General  Hayne,)  I  believe,  thought  that  the 
tariff  of  1824  would  operate  a  reduction  of 
revenue  to  the  large  amount  of  eight  millions 
of  dollars;  secondly,  the  destruction  of  our 
navigation ;  thirdly,  the  desolation  of  commer- 
cial cities  ;  and,  fourthly,  the  augmentation  of 
the  price  of  articles  of  consumption,  and  further 
decline  in  that  of  the  articles  of  our  exports. 
Every  prediction  which  they  made  has  failed — 
utterly  failed.  °  *  It  is  now  proposed  to 


COTTON  IS  KING.  103 

abolish  the  system  to  which  we  owe  so  much  of 
the  public  prosperity.  °  *  Why,  sir,  there 
is  scarcely  an  interest — scarcely  a  vocation  in 
society — which  is  not  embraced  by  the  bene- 
ficence of  this  system.  °  °  The  error  of 
the  opposite  argument,  is  in  assuming  one 
thing,  which,  being  denied,  the  whole  fails ; 
that  is,  it  assumes  that  the  whole  labor  of  the 
United  States  would  be  profitably  employed 
without  manufactures.  Now,  the  truth  is,  that 
the  system  excites  and  creates  labor,  and  this 
labor  creates  wealth,  and  this  new  wealth  com- 
municates additional  ability  to  consume ;  which 
acts  on  all  the  objects  contributing  to  human 
comfort  and  enjoyment.  *  °  I  could  ex- 
tend and  dwell  on  the  long  list  of  articles — the 
hemp,  iron,  lead,  coal,  and  other  items  —  for 
which  a  demand  is  created  in  the  home  market 
by  the  operation  of  the  American  system ;  but 
I  should  exhaust  the  patience  of  the  Senate. 
W. here,  where  should  we  find  a  market  for  all 
these  articles,  if  it  did  not  exist  at  home? 
What  would  be  the  condition  of  the  largest 
portion  of  our  people,  and  of  the  territory,  if 


104  COTTON  IS  KING. 

this  home  market  were  annihilated?  How 
could  they  be  supplied  with  objects  of  prime 
necessity  ?  What  would  not  be  the  certain  and 
inevitable  decline  in  the  price  of  all  these  arti- 
cles, but  for  the  home  market  ?" 

But  we  must  not  burden  our  pages  with 
further  extracts.  What  has  been  quoted  affords 
the  principal  arguments  of  the  opposing  parties, 
on  the  points  in  which  we  are  interested,  down 
to  1832.  The  adjustment,  in  1833,  of  the 
subject  until  1842,  and  its  subsequent  agita- 
tion, are  too  familiar,  or  of  too  easy  access  to 
the  general  reader,  to  require  a  notice  from  us 
here. 

The  results  of  the  contest,  in  relation  to  Pro- 
tection and  Free  Trade,  have  been  more  or  less 
favorable  to  all  parties.  This  has  been  an 
effect,  in  part,  of  the  changeable  character  of 
our  legislation ;  and,  in  part,  of  the  occurrence 
of  events  over  which  politicians  had  no  control. 
The  manufacturing  States,  while  protection 
lasted,  succeeded  in  placing  their  establish- 
ments upon  a  comparatively  permanent  basis  ; 
and,  by  engaging  largely  in  the  manufacture 


COTTON  IS  KING.  105 

of  cottons,  as  well  as  woolens,  have  rendered 
home  manufactures,  practically,  very  advan- 
tageous to  the  South.  Our  cotton  factories,  in 
1850,  consumed  as  much  cotton  as  those  of 
Great  Britain  did  in  1831 ;  thus  affording  indi- 
cations, that,  by  proper  encouragement,  they 
may  be  multiplied  so  as  to  consume  the  whole 
crop  of  the  country.  The  cotton  and  woolen 
factories,  in  1850,  employed  over  130,000  work 
hands,  and  had  $102,619,581  of  capital  invested 
in  them.  They  thus  afford  an  important  mar- 
ket to  the  farmer,  and,  at  the  same  time,  have 
become  an  equally  important  auxiliary  to  the 
planter.  They  may  yet  afford  him  the  only 
market  for  his  cotton. 

The  cotton  planting  States,  toward  the  close 
of  the  contest,  found  themselves  rapidly  accumu- 
lating strength,  and  approximating  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  grand  object  at  which  they 
aimed — the  monopoly  of  the  cotton  markets  of 
the  world.  This  success  was  due,  not  so  much  to 
any  triumph  over  the  North — to  any  prostration 
of  our  manufacturing  interests — as  to  the  gen- 
eral policy  of  other  nations.  All  rivalry  to 
9 


106  COTTON   IS   KING. 

the  American  planters,  in  the  West  Indies,  was 
removed  by  emancipation ;  as,  under  freedom, 
the  cultivation  of  cotton  was  nearly  abandoned. 
Mehemet  Ali  had  become  imbecile,  and  the 
indolent  Egyptians  neglected  its  culture.  The 
South  Americans,  after  achieving  their  inde- 
pendence, were  more  readily  enlisted  in  military 
forays,  than  in  the  art  of  agriculture,  and  they 
produced  little  cotton  for  export.  Brazil  and 
India  both  supplied  to  Europe  considerably  less 
in  1838  than  they  had  done  in  1820;  and  the 
latter  country  made  no  material  increase  after- 
ward, except  when  her  chief  customer,  China, 
was  at  war,  or  prices  were  above  the  average 
rates  in  Europe.  While  the  cultivation  of 
cotton  was  thus  stationary  or  retrograding, 
everywhere  outside  of  the  United  States,  Eng- 
land and  the  Continent  were  rapidly  increasing 
their  consumption  of  the  article,  which  they 
nearly  doubled  from  1835  to  1845 ;  so  that  the 
demand  for  the  raw  material  called  loudly  for 
its  increased  production.  Our  planters  gathered 
a  rich  harvest  of  profits  by  these  events. 

But  this  is  not  all  that  is  worthy  of  note,  in 


COTTON   IS  KING.  107 

this  strange  chapter  of  providences.  No  pro- 
minent event  occurred,  hut  conspired  to  advance 
the  prosperity  of  the  cotton  trade,  and  the  value 
of  American  Slavery.  Even  the  very  depression 
suffered  "by  the  manufacturers  and  cultivators 
of  cotton,  from  1825  to  1829,  served  to  place 
the  manufacturing  interests  upon  the  hroad 
and  firm  "basis  they  now  occupy.  It  forced  the 
Planters  into  the  production  of  their  cotton  at 
reduced  rates ;  and  led  the  Manufacturers  to 
improve  their  machinery,  and  reduce  the  price 
of  their  fahrics  low  enough  to  sweep  away  all 
Household  manufacturing,  and  secure  to  them- 
selves the  monopoly  of  clothing  the  civilized 
world.  This  was  the  ohject  at  which  the  British 
manufacturers  had  aimed,  and  in  which  they 
had  heen  eminently  successful.  The  growing 
manufactures  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the 
Continent  of  Europe,  had  not  yet  sensihly  affected 
their  operations. 

There  is  still  another  point  requiring  a  pass- 
ing notice,  as  it  may  serve  to  explain  some  por- 
tions of  the  history  of  Slavery,  not  so  well 
understood.  It  was  not  until  events  diminish- 


108  COTTON   IS  KING. 

ing  the  foreign  growth  of  cotton,  and  enlarging 
the  demand  for  its  fabrics,  had  been  extensively 
developed,  that  the  older  cotton-growing  States, 
became  willing  to  allow  Slavery  extension  in 
the  Southwest ;  and,  even  then,  their  assent  was 
reluctantly  given  —  the  markets  for  cotton, 
doubtless,  being  considered  sufficiently  limited 
for  the  territory  under  cultivation.  Up  to  1824 
the  Indians  held  over  thirty-two  millions  of  acres 
of  land  in  Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama, 
and  over  twenty  millions  of  acres  in  Florida, 
Missouri,  and  Arkansas  ;  which  was  mostly 
retained  by  them  as  late  as  1836.  Although 
the  States  interested  had  repeatedly  urged  the 
matter  upon  Congress,  and  some  of  them  even 
resorted  to  forcible  means  to  gain  possession  of 
these  Indian  lands,  the  Government  did  not 
fulfill  its  promise  to  remove  the  Indians  until 
1836. 

The  older  States,  however,  had  found,  by  this 
time,  that  the  foreign  and  home  demand  for 
cotton  was  so  rapidly  increasing,  that  there 
was  little  danger  of  over-production  ;  and  that 
they  had,  in  fact,  secured  to  themselves  the 


COTTON  IS  KING.  109 

monopoly  of  the  foreign  markets.  Beside  this, 
the  Abolition  movement,  at  that  moment,  had 
assumed  its  most  threatening  aspect,  and  was 
demanding  the  destruction  of  Slavery  or  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union.  Here  was  a  double 
motive  operating  to  produce  harmony  in  the 
ranks  of  Southern  politicians,  and  to  awaken  the 
fears  of  many,  North  and  South,  for  the  safety 
of  the  Government.  Here,  also,  was  the  origin  of 
the  determination,  in  the  South,  to  extend  Slav- 
ery, by  the  annexation  of  territory,  so  as  to 
gain  the  political  preponderance  in  the  National 
Councils,  and  protect  its  interests  against  the 
interference  of  the  North. 

It  was  not  the  increased  demand  for  cotton, 
alone,  that  served  as  a  protection  to  the  older 
States.  The  extension  of  its  cultivation,  in  the 
degree  demanded  by  the  wants  of  commerce, 
could  only  be  affected  by  a  corresponding  in- 
creased supply  of  Provisions.  Without  this  it 
could  not  increase,  except  by  enhancing  their 
price  to  the  injury  of  the  older  States.  This 
food  did  not  fail  to  be  in  readiness,  so  soon  as  it 
was  needed.  Indeed,  much  of  it  had  long  been 


110  COTTON  IS  KING. 

awaiting  an  outlet  to  a  profitable  market.  Its 
surplus,  too,  had  been  materially  increased,  by 
the  Temperance  movement  in  the  North,  which 
had  checked,  somewhat,  the  distillation  of  grain. 
The  West,  which  had  long  looked  to  the  East 
for  a  market,  had  its  attention  now  turned  to 
the  South,  as  the  most  certain  and  convenient 
mart  for  the  sale  of  its  products  —  the  Planters 
affording  to  the  Farmers,  the  markets  they  had 
in  vain  sought  from  the  Manufacturers.  In  the 
meantime  steamboat  navigation  was  acquiring 
perfection  on  the  Western  rivers  —  the  great 
natural  outlets  for  Western  products  —  and 
became  a  means  of  communication  between  the 
Northwest  and  the  Southwest,  as  well  as  with 
the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  Atlantic  cities. 
This  gave  an  impulse  to  industry  and  enter- 
prise, west  of  the  Alleghanies,  unparalleled  in 
the  history  of  the  country.  While,  then,  the 
bounds  of  Slave  labor  were  extending  from 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia,  westward, 
over  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Ar- 
kansas, the  area  of  Free  labor  was  enlarging, 
with  equal  rapidity,  in  the  Northwest,  through- 


COTTON  IS  KING.  Ill 

out  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan.  Thus 
within  these  Provision  and  Cotton  regions,  were 
the  forests  cleared  away,  or  the  prairies  broken 
up,  simultaneously,  by  these  old  antagonistic 
forces,  opponents  no  longer,  but  harmonized  by 
the  fusion  of  their  interests  —  the  connecting 
link  between  them  being  the  steamboat.  Thus, 
also,  was  a  tripartite  alliance  formed,  by  which 
the  Western  Farmer,  the  Southern  Planter,  and 
the  English  Manufacturer,  became  united  in  a 
common  bond  of  interest  —  the  whole  giving 
their  support  to  the  doctrines  of  Free  Trade. 

This  active  commerce  between  the  West  and 
South,  however,  soon  caused  a  rivalry  in  the 
East,  that  pushed  forward  improvements,  by 
States  or  Corporations,  to  gain  a  share  in  the 
Western  trade.  These  improvements,  as  com- 
pleted, gave  to  the  West  a  choice  of  markets, 
so  that  its  Farmers  could  elect  whether  to  feed 
the  slave  who  grows  the  cotton,  or  the  operatives 
who  are  engaged  in  its  manufacture.  But  this 
rivalry  did  more.  The  competition  for  Western 
products  enhanced  their  price,  and  stimulated 
their  more  extended  cultivation.  This  required 


112  COTTON  IS  KING. 

an  enlargement  of  the  markets ;  and  the  ex- 
tension of  Slavery  became  essential  to  Western 
prosperity. 

We  have  not  reached  the  end  of  the  alliance 
between  the  Western  Farmer  and  Southern 
Planter.  The  emigration  which  has  been  fill- 
ing Iowa  and  Minnesota,  and  is  now  rolling  like 
a  flood  into  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  is  but  a 
repetition  of  what  has  occurred  in  the  other 
Western  States  and  Territories.  Agricultural 
pursuits  are  highly  remunerative,  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  men  of  moderate  means,  or  of  no 
means,  are  cheered  along  to  where  none  forbids 
them  land  to  till.  For  the  last  few  years,  pub- 
lic improvements  have  called  for  vastly  more 
than  the  usual  share  of  labor,  and  augmented 
the  consumption  of  Provisions.  The  foreign 
demand  added  to  this,  has  increased  their  price 
beyond  what  the  Planter  can  afford  to  pay. 
For  many  years  Free  and  Slave  labor  main- 
tained an  even  race  in  their  Western  progress. 
Of  late  the  Freemen  have  begun  to  lag  behind, 
while  Slavery  has  advanced  by  several  degrees 
of  longitude.  Free  labor  must  be  made  to  keep 


COTTON  IS  KING.  113 

pace  with  it.  There  is  an  urgent  necessity  for 
this.  The  demand  for  cotton  is  increasing  in 
a  ratio  greater  than  can  be  supplied  by  the 
American  planters,  unless  by  a  corresponding 
increased  production.  They  must  meet  this 
increasing  demand,  or  its  cultivation  will  be 
facilitated  elsewhere,  and  our  monopoly  of  the 
European  markets  be  interrupted.  This  can  only 
be  effected  by  concentrating  the  greatest  possible 
number  of  the  slaves  upon  the  cotton  plantations. 
Hence  they  must  be  supplied  with  provisions. 

This  is  the  present  aspect  of  the  Provision 
question,  as  it  regards  Slavery  extension.  Prices 
are  approximating  the  maximum  point,  beyond 
which  our  provisions  can  not  be  fed  to  slaves. 
Such  a  result  was  not  anticipated  by  Southern 
statesmen,  when  they  had  succeeded  in  over- 
throwing the  Protective  policy,  destroying  the 
United  States  Bank,  and  establishing  the  Sub- 
Treasury  system.  And  why  has  this  occurred  ? 
The  mines  of  California  prevented  both  the 
Free-Trade  Tariff,0  and  the  Sub-Treasury  scheme 

°The  Tariff  of  1846,  under  which  our  imports  are  now 
made,  approximates  the  Free  Trade  principles  very  closely. 


114  COTTON  IS  KING. 

from  exhausting  the  country  of  the  previous 
metals,  extinguishing  the  circulation  of  Bank 
Notes,  and  reducing  the  prices  of  agricultural 
products  to  the  specie  value.  At  the  date  of 
the  passage  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  the  multipli- 
cation of  provisions,  by  their  more  extended  cul- 
tivation, was  the  only  measure  left  that  could 
produce  a  reduction  of  prices,  and  meet  the 
wants  of  the  planters. .  Tfte  Canadian,  reciprocity 
treaty,  since  secured,  will  bring  the  products  of 
the  British  North  American  Colonies,  free  of 
duty,  into  competition  with  those  of  the  United 
States,  when  prices,  with  us,  rule  high,  and  tend 
to  dimmish  their  cost ;  but  in  the  event  of  scar- 
city in  Europe,  or  of  foreign  wars,  the  opposite 
results  may  occur,  as  our  products,  in  such  times, 
will  pass,  free  of  duty,  through  these  Colonies, 
into  the  foreign  market.  It  is  apparent,  then, 
that  nothing  short  of  extended  Free-labor  culti- 
vation, far  distant  from  the  seaboard,  where  the 
products  will  bear  transportation  to  none  but 
Southern  markets,  can  fully  secure  the  Cotton 
interests  from  the  contingencies  that  so  often 
threaten  them  with  ruinous  embarrassments. 


COTTON  IS   KING.  115 

In  fact,  such  a  depression  of  our  cotton  interests 
has  only  been  averted  by  the  advanced  prices 
which  cotton  has  commanded,  for  the  last  few 
years,  in  consequence  of  the  increased  European 
demand,  and  its  diminished  cultivation  abroad. 
The  dullest  intellect  can  not  fail,  now,  to 
perceive  the  rationale  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
movement.  The  political  influence  which  these 
Territories  will  give  to*  the  South,  if  secured, 
will  be  of  the.  first  importance  to  perfect  its 
arrangements  for  future  Slavery  extension — 
whether  by  divisions  of  the  larger  States  and 
Territories  now  secured  to  the  institution,  its 
extension  into  territory  hitherto  considered  free, 
or  the  acquisition  of  new  territory  to  be  devoted 
to  the  system,  so  as  to  preserve  the  balance  of 
power  in  Congress.  When  this  is  done,  Kansas 
and  Nebraska,  like  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  will 
be  of  little  consequence  to  slaveholders,  com- 
pared with  the  cheap  and  constant  supply  of 
provisions  they  can  yield.  Nothing,  therefore, 
will  so  exactly  coincide  with  Southern  interests, 
as  a  rapid  emigration  of  freemen  into  these  new 
Territories.  Free  labor,  doubly  productive  over 


116  COTTON  IS  KING. 

Slave  labor,  in  grain-growing,  must  be  multiplied 
within  their  limits,  that  the  cost  of  provisions 
may  be  reduced,  and  the  extension  of  Slavery 
and  the  growth  of  cotton  suffer  no  interruption. 
The  present  efforts  to  plant  them  with  Slavery, 
are  indispensable  to  produce  sufficient  excite- 
ment to  fill  them  speedily  with  a  free  population ; 
and  if  this  whole  movement  has  been  a  South- 
ern scheme  to  cheapen  provisions,  and  increase 
the  ratio  of  the  production  of  sugar  and  cotton, 
as  it  most  unquestionably  will  do,  it  surpasses 
the  statesman-like  strategy  which  forced  the 
people  into  an  acquiescence  in  the  annexation  of 
Texas. 

And  should  the  Anti-Slavery  voters  succeed  in 
gaining  the  political  ascendency  in  these  Terri- 
tories ',  and  bring  them  as  free  States  triumph- 
antly into  the  Union ;  what  can  they  do,  but 
turn  in,  as  all  the  rest  of  the  Western  States 
have  done,  and  help  to  feed  slaves,  or  those  who 
manufacture  or  who  sell  the  products  of  the 
labor  of  slaves.  There  is  no  other  resource  left, 
either  to  them  or  ourselves,  without  an  entire 
change  in  almost  every  branch  of  business  and 


COTTON  IS  KING.  117 

of  domestic  economy.  Look  at  your  bills  of 
dry-goods  for  the  year,  and  what  do  they  con- 
tain ?  At  least  three-fourths  of  the  amount  are 
French,  English,  or  American  cotton  fabrics, 
woven  from  Slave-labor  cotton.  Look  at  your 
bills  for  groceries,  and  what  do  they  contain  ? 
Coffee,  sugar,  molasses,  rice — from  Brazil,  Cuba, 
Louisiana,  Carolina ;  while  only  a  mere  fraction 
of  them  are  from  Free-labor  countries.  As  now 
employed,  our  dry-goods  merchants  and  grocers 
constitute  an  immense  army  of  agents  for  the 
sale  of  fabrics  and  products,  coming  directly  or 
indirectly,  from  the  hand  of  the  slave ;  and  all 
the  remaining  portion  of  the  people,  free  colored, 
as  well  as  white,  are  exerting  themselves,  accord- 
ing to  their  various  capacities,  to  gain  the  means 
of  purchasing  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
these  commodities.  Nor  can  the  country,  at 
present,  by  any  possibility,  pay  for  the  amount 
of  foreign  goods  consumed,  but  by  the  labor  of 
the  slaves  of  the  planting  States.  This  can  not 
be  doubted  for  a  moment.  Here  is  the  proof : 
Commerce  supplied  us,  in  1853,  with  foreign 
articles,  for  consumption,  to  the  value  of 


118  COTTON   IS   KING. 

$250,420,187,  and  accepted  in  exchange,  of  our 
provisions,  to  the  value  of  but  $33,809,126 ;  while 
the  products  of  our  Slave  labor,  manufactured 
and  unmanufactured,  paid  to  the  amount  of 
$133,648,603,  on  the  balance  of  this  foreign 
debt.  This,  then,  is  the  measure  of  the  ability 
of  the  farmers  and  planters,  respectively,  to  meet 
the  payment  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of 
life,  supplied  to  the  country  by  its  foreign  com- 
merce. The  farmer  pays,  or  seems  only  to  pay, 
$33,800,000,  while  the  planter  has  a  broad 
credit,  on  the  account,  of  $133,600,000. 

But  is  this  seeming  productiveness  of  Slavery 
real,  or  is  it  only  imaginary?  Has  the  system 
such  capacities,  over  the  other  industrial  inter- 
ests of  the  nation,  in  the  creation  of  wealth,  as 
these  figures  indicate?  Or,  are  these  results 
due  to  its  intermediate  position  between  the 
agriculture  of  the  country  and  its  foreign  com- 
merce ?  These  are  questions  worthy  of  consider- 
ation. Were  the  planters  left  to  grow  their  own 
provisions,  they  would,  as  already  intimated,  be 
unable  to  produce  any  cotton  for  export.  That 
their  present  ability  to  export  so  extensively,  is 


COTTON   IS   KING.  119 

in  consequence  of  the  aid  they  receive  from  the 
North,  is  proved  by  facts  such  as  these : 

In  1820,  the  cotton-gin  had  been  a  quarter  of 
a  century  in  operation,  and  the  culture  of  cotton 
was  then  as  well  understood  as  at  present.  The 
North,  though  furnishing  the  South  with  some 
live  stock,  had  scarcely  begun  to  supply  it  with 
Provisions,  and  the  planters  had  to  grow  the 
food,  and  manufacture  much  of  the  clothing  for 
their  slaves.  In  that  year  the  cotton  crop 
equaled  109  Ibs.  to  each  slave  in  the  Union,  of 
which  83  Ibs.  per  slave  were  exported.  In  1830 
the  exports  of  the  article  had  risen  to  143  Ibs., 
in  1840  to  295  Ibs.,  and  in  1853  to  337  Ibs.  per 
slave.  The  total  cotton  crop  of  1853,  equaled 
485  Ibs.  per  slave — making  both  the  production 
and  export  of  that  staple,  in  1853,  more  than 
four  times  as  large,  in  proportion  to  the  Slave 
population,  as  they  were  in  1820.°  Had  the 

0  The  progressive  increase  is  indicated  by  the  following 

figures : 

1820          1830          1840          1853 

Total  slaves  in  U.  S.,  -  - 1,538,098  -  -  2,009,043  -  -  2,487,356 3,296,408 

Cot.  Exp'd,  -  -  -  Ibs.,  127,800,000    298,459,102  743,941,061   1,111,570,370 
Av'ge  ex.  to  each  slave,    Ibs.,  83 143 295 337 


120  COTTON   IS   KING. 

planters,  in  1853,  been  able  to  produce  no 
more  cotton,  per  slave,  than  in  1820,  they  would 
have  grown  but  359,308,472  Ibs.,  instead  of  the 
actual  crop  of  1,600,000,000  Ibs. ;  and  would  not 
only  have  failed  to  supply  any  for  export,  but 
have  fallen  short  of  the  home  demand,  by  nearly 
130,000,000  Ibs.,  and  been  minus  the  total  crop 
of  that  year,  by  1,240, 690,000  Ibs. 

In  this  estimate,  some  allowance,  perhaps, 
should  be  made,  for  the  greater  fertility  of  the 
new  lands,  more  recently  brought  under  culti- 
vation ;  but  the  difference,  on  this  account,  can 
not  be  equal  to  the  difference  in  the  crops  of  the 
several  periods,  as  the  lands,  in  the  older  States, 
in  1820,  were  yet  comparatively  fresh  and  pro- 
ductive. 

Again,  the  dependence  of  the  South  upon  the 
North,  for  its  provisions,  may  be  inferred  from 
such  additional  facts  as  these :  The  "  Abstract 
of  the  Census,"  for  1850,  shows,  that  the  pro- 
duction of  wheat,  in  Florida,  Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Texas,  aver- 
aged, the  year  preceding,  very  little  more  than 
a  peck,  (it  was  27-100  of  a  bushel,)  to  each 


COTTON  IS  KING.  121 

person  within  their  limits.  These  States  must 
purchase  flour  largely,  but  to  what  amount  we 
can  not  determine.  The  shipments  of  provi- 
sions from  Cincinnati  to  New  Orleans  and  other 
down  river  ports,  show  that  large  supplies  leave 
that  city  for  the  South  ;  but  what  proportion  of 
them  is  taken  for  consumption  by  the  planters, 
must  be  left,  at  present,  to  conjecture.  These 
shipments,  as  to  a  few  of  the  prominent  arti- 
cles, for  the  four  years  ending  August  31,  1854, 
averaged,  annually,  the  following  amounts : 

Wheat  flour bbls.        385,204 

Pork  and  bacon,  in  bulk  and  in  barrels''    -    -  Ibs.    21,095,930 

"  "       hogsheads hhds.       20,767 

"  "      tierces, tcs.          15,478 

Whiskyf gals.    8,115,360 

Cincinnati  also  exports  eastward,  by  canal, 
rivfcr,  and  railroad,  large  amounts  of  these  pro- 
ductions. The  towns  and  cities  westward  send 
more  of  their  products  to  the  South,  as  their 
distance  increases  the  cost  of  transportation 
to  the  East.  But,  in  the  absence  of  full  statis- 

0  Barrels  estimated  to  contain  196  Ibs.  each, 
f  Barrels  estimated  at  40  gallons  each. 
10 


122  COTTON   IS  KING. 

tics,  it   is   not  necessary  to   make    additional 
statements. 

V 

From  this  view  of  the  subject,  it  appears 
that  Slavery  is  not  a  self-sustaining  system, 
independently  remunerative ;  but  that  it  attains 
-1&  importance  to  the  nation  and  to  the  world, 
by  standing  as  an  agency,  intermediate  between 
the  grain-growing  States  and  foreign  commerce. 
As  the  distillers  of  the  West  transformed  the 
surplus  grain  into  whisky,  that  it  might  bear 
transport,  so  Slavery  takes  the  products  of  the 
North,  and  metamorphoses  them  into  cotton, 
that  they  may  bear  export. 

It  seems,  indeed,  when  the  whole  of  the  facts 
brought  to  view  are  considered,  that  American 
Slavery,  though  of  little  force  unaided,  yet, 
properly  sustained,  is  the  great  central  power, 
or  energizing  influence,  not  only  of  nearly  all 
the  industrial  interests  of  our  own  country, 
but  also  of  those  of  Great  Britain  and  much  of 
the  Continent ;  and  that,  if  stricken  from  exist- 
ence, the  whole  of  these  interests,  with  the 
advancing  civilization  of  the  age,  would  receive 


COTTON   IS  KING.  123 

a  shock   that  must  retard  their  progress  for 
years  to  come. 

This  is  no  exaggerated  picture  of  the  present 
imposing  power  of  Slavery.  It  is  literally  true. 
Southern  men  believed  that  the  Protective 
Tariff  would  have  paralyzed  it — would  have 
destroyed  it.  But  the  Abolitionists,  led  off  "by 
politicians  and  editors,  who  advocated  Free 
Trade,  were  made  the  instruments  of  its  over- 
throw. No  such  extended  mining  and  manu- 
facturing, as  the  Protective  system  would  have 
created,  has  now  any  existence  in  the  Union. 
Under  it,  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty 
millions  in  value,  of  the  foreign  imports  for 
1853,  would  have  been  produced  in  our  own 
country.  But  Free  Trade  is  dominant:  the 
South  has  triumphed  in  its  warfare  with  the 
North :  the  political  power  passed  into  its  hands 
with  the  defeat  of  the  Father  of  the  Protective 
Tariff,  ten  years  since,  in  the  last  effort  of  his 
friends  to  elevate  him  to  the  Presidency :  the 
Slaveholding  and  commercial  interests  then 
gained  the  ascendency,  and  secured  the  power 
of  annexing  territory  at  will;  the  nation  has 


124  COTTON   IS   KING. 

become  rich  in  commerce,  and  unbounded  in 
ambition  for  territorial  aggrandizement:  the 
people  acquiesce  in  the  measures  of  Govern- 
ment, and  are  proud  of  its  influence  in  the 
world;  nay,  more,  the  peaceful  aspect  of  the 
nations  has  been  changed,  and  the  policy  of 
our  own  country  must  be  modified  to  meet  the 
exigencies  that  may  arise. 

One  word  more  on  the  point  we  have  been 
considering.  With  the  defeat  of  Mr.  CLAY, 
came  the  immediate  annexation  of  Texas,  and, 
as  he  predicted,  the  war  with  Mexico.  The 
results  of  these  events  let  loose  from  its  attach- 
ments a  mighty  avalanche  of  emigration  and 
of  enterprise,  under  the  rule  of  the  Free  Trade 
policy,  then  adopted,  which,  by  the  golden 
treasures  it  yields,  renders  that  system,  thus 
far,  self-sustaining,  and  able  to  move  on,  as  its 
friends  believe,  with  a  momentum  that  forbids 
any  attempt  to  return  again  to  the  system  of 
Protection.  Whether  the  Tariff  controversy  is 
permanently  settled,  or  not,  is  a  question  about 
which  we  shall  not  speculate.  It  may  be  re- 
marked, however,  that  one  of  the  leading  par- 


COTTON  IS  KING.  125 

ties  in  the  North,  gave  in  its  adhesion  to  Free 
Trade  many  years  since,  and  still  continues  to 
vote  with  the  South.  The  leading  Abolition 
paper,  too,  ever  since  its  origin,  has  advocated 
the  Southern  Free  Trade  system ;  and  thus,  in 
defending  the  cause  it  has  espoused,  as  was  said 
of  a  certain  General  in  the  Mexican  war,  its 
editor  has  been  digging  his  ditches  on  the 
wrong  side  of  his  breastworks.  To  say  the 
least,  his  position  is  a  very  strange  one,  for 
a  man  who  professes  to  labor  for  the  overthrow 
of  American  Slavery.  It  would  be  as  rational 
to  pour  oil  upon  a  burning  edifice,  to  extinguish 
the  fire,  as  to  attempt  to  overthrow  that  system 
under  the  rule  of  Free  Trade. 

All  these  things  together  have  paralyzed  the 
advocates  of  the  protection  of  Free  labor,  at 
present,  as  fully  as  the  North  has  thereby  been 
shorn  of  its  power  to  control  the  question  of 
Slavery.  Indeed,  from  what  has  been  said  of 
the  present  position  of  American  Slavery,  in 
its  relations  to  the  other  industrial  interests 
of  the  country,  and  of  the  world,  there  is  no 
longer  any  doubt  that  it  now  completes  the 


126  COTTON   IS  KING. 

home  market,  so  zealously  urged  as  essential  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  Agricultural  population  of 
the  country:  and  which,  it  was  supposed,  could 
only  he  created  by  the  multiplication  of  domestic 
manufactures.  This  desideratum  being  gained, 
the  great  majority  of  the  people  have  nothing 
more  to  ask,  but  seem  desirous  that  our  foreign 
commerce  shall  be  cherished ;  that  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cotton  and  sugar  shall  be  extended ; 
that  the  nation  shall  become  cumulative  as 
well  as  progressive;  that  as  Despotism  is 
striving  to  spread  its  raven  wing  over  the  earth, 
Freedom  must  strengthen  itself  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  liberties  of  the  world ;  that  while 
three  millions  of  Africans,  only,  are  held  to 
involuntary  servitude  for  a  time,  to  sustain  the 
system  of  Free  Trade,  the  freedom  of  hundreds 
of  millions  is  involved  in  the  preservation  of 
the  American  Constitution ;  and  that  as  African 
emancipation,  in  every  experiment  made,  has 
thrown  a  dead  weight  upon  Anglo-Saxon  pro- 
gress, the  colored  people  must  wait  a  little, 
until  the  general  battle  for  the  liberties  of  the 
civilized  nations  is  gained,  before  the  universal 


COTTON  IS  KING.  127 

elevation  of  the  barbarous  tribes  can  be 
achieved.  This  work,  it  is  true,  has  been  com- 
menced at  various  .outposts  in  heathendom,  by 
the  missionary,  but  is  impeded  by  numberless 
hinderances ;  and  these  obstacles  to  the  progress 
of  Christian  civilization,  doubtless  will  continue, 
until  the  friends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
shall  triumph  in  nominally  Christian  countries, 
ajid,  with  the  wealth  of  the  nations  at  com- 
mand, instead  of  applying  it  to  purposes  of 
war,  shall  devote  it  to  sweeping  away  the  dark- 
ness of  superstition  and  barbarism  from  the 
earth,  by  extending  the  knowledge  of  Science 
and  Revelation  to  all  the  families  of  man. 

But  w,e  must  hasten. 

There  are  none  who  will  deny  the  truth  of 
what  is  said  of  the  present  strength  and  influ- 
ence of  Slavery,  however  much  they  may  have 
deprecated  its  acquisition  of  power.  There  are 
none  who  think  it  practicable  to  assail  it,  suc- 
cessfully, by  political  action,  in  the  States  where 
it  is  already  established  by  law.  The  struggle 
against  the  system,  therefore,  is  narrowed  down 
to  an  effort  to  prevent  its  extension  into  territory 


128  COTTON  IS  KING. 

now  free ;  and  this  contest  is  limited  to  the 
people  of  the  Territories  themselves.  The  ques- 
tion is  thus  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  people 
at  large,  and  they  are  cut  off  from  all  control 
of  Slavery,  both  in  the  States  and  Territories. 
Hence  it  is,  that  the  American  people  are 
considering  the  propriety  of  banishing  this  dis- 
tracting question  from  national  politics,  and 
demanding  of  their  statesmen  that  there  sha^l 
no  longer  be  any  delay  in  the  adoption  of  meas- 
ures to  sustain  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  our 
glorious  Union,  against  all  its  enemies,  whether 
domestic  or  foreign. 

The  policy  of  adopting  this  course,  may  be 
liable  to  objection ;  but  it  does  not  appear  to 
arise  from  any  disposition  to  prove  recreant  to 
the  cause  of  philanthropy,  that  the  people  of 
the  Free  States  are  resolving  to  divorce  the 
Slavery  question  from  all  connection  with  polit- 
ical movements.  It  is  because  they  now  find 
themselves  wholly  powerless,  as  did  the  Coloni- 
zationists,  forty  years  since,  in  regard  to  eman- 
cipation, and  are  thus  forced  into  a  position  of 
neutrality  upon  that  subject.  A  word  on  this 


COTTON  IS  KING.  129 

point.  The  friends  of  Colonization,  in  the  outset 
of  that  enterprise,  found  themselves  shut  up  to 
the  necessity  of  creating  a  Kepublic  on  the  shores 
of  Africa,  as  the  only  hope  for  the  Free  colored 
people — the  further  emancipation  of  the  slaves, 
by  State  action,  having  become  impracticable. 
After  nearly  forty  years  of  experimenting  with 
the  free  colored  people,  by  others,  Colonization- 
ists  still  find  themselves  circumscribed  in  their 
operations,  to  their  original  design  of  building 
up  the  Kepublic  of  Liberia,  as  the  only  rational 
hope  of  the  elevation  of  the  African  race — the 
prospects  of  general  emancipation  being  a  thou- 
sand-fold more  gloomy  in  1855  than  they  were 
in  1817.  But  to  return.  The  people  at  large, 
too,  begin  not  only  to  realize  their  own  want  of 
power  over  the  institution  of  Slavery,  and  the 
futility  of  any  measures  hitherto  adopted  to 
arrest  its  progress,  and  elevate  the  free  colored 
people ;  but  they  have  also  discovered  agencies 
at  work,  heretofore  overlooked,  except  by  few, 
which  are  tending  to  sap  the  foundations  of  our 
Free  Institutions,  and  to  subject  us  to  influences 

that  have  crushed  the  liberties  of  Europe,  and 
11 


130  COTTON   IS  KING. 

which,  if  permitted  to  become  dominant  here, 
will  blot  out  our  happy  Eepublic,  and,  with  it, 
the  liberties  of  the  world. 

In  such  a  crisis  as  this,  shall  the  friends  of 
the  Union  be  rebuked,  if  they  determine  to  take 
a  position  of  neutrality,  in  politics,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Slavery ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  they 
offer  to  guarantee  the  Free  colored  people  a 
Republic  of  their  own,  where  they  may  equal 
other  races,  and  aid  in  redeeming  a  continent 
from  the  woes  it  has  suffered  for  thousands  of 
years ! 

3.  The  social  and  moral  condition  of  the  free 
people  of  color,  in  the  British  colonies,  and  in 
the  United  States ;  and  the  new  field  opening 
in  Liberia  for  the  display  of  their  powers. 

We  have  noticed  the  social  and  moral  condi- 
tion of  the  free  colored  people,  from  the  days  of 
FRANKLIN,  to  the  projection  of  Colonization.  We 
have  also  glanced  at  the  main  facts  in  relation 
to  the  Abolition  warfare  upon  Colonization,  and 
its  success  in  paralyzing  the  enterprise.  This 
demands  a  more  extended  notice.  The  most 
serious  injury  from  this  hostility,  sustained  by 


COTTON   IS   KING.  131 

the  cause  of  Colonization,  was  the  prejudice 
created,  in  the  minds  of  the  more  intelligent 
free  colored  men,  against  emigration  to  Liberia. 
The  Colonization  Society  had  expressed  its  belief 
in  the  natural  equality  of  the  blacks  and  whites  ; 
and  that  there  were  a  sufficient  number  of  edu- 
cated, upright,  free  colored  men,  in  the  United 
States,  to  establish  and  sustain  a  Republic  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  "  whose  citizens,  rising  rap- 
idly in  the  scale  of  existence,  under  the  stimu- 
lants to  noble  effort  by  which  they  would  be 
surrounded,  might  soon  become  equal  to  the 
people  of  Europe,  or  of  European  origin — so  long 
their  masters  and  oppressors."  These  were  the 
sentiments  of  the  first  Eeport  of  the  Coloniza- 
tion Society,  and  often  repeated  since.  Its 
appeals  were  made  to  the  moral  and  intelligent 
of  the  Free  colored  people ;  and,  with  their  co- 
operation, the  success  of  its  scheme  was  consid- 
ered certain.  But  the  very  persons  needed  to 
lead  the  enterprise,  were,  mostly,  persuaded  to 
reject  the  proffered  aid,  and  the  Society  was  left 
to  prosecute  its  plans  with  such  materials  as 
offered.  In  consequence  of  this  opposition,  it 


132  COTTON   IS   KING. 

was  greatly  embarrassed,  and  made  less  progress 
in  its  work  of  African  redemption,  than  it  must 
have  done  under  other  circumstances.  Had 
three-fourths  of  its  emigrants  been  the  enlight- 
ened, free  colored  men  of  the  country,  a  dozen 
Liberias  might  now  gird  the  coast  of  Africa, 
where  but  one  exists ;  and  the  Slave  trader  be 
entirely  excluded  from  its  shores.  Doubtless,  a 
wise  Providence  has  governed  here,  as  in  other 
human  affairs,  and  may  have  permitted  this 
result,  to  show  how  speedily  even  semi-civilized 
men  can  be  elevated  under  American  Protestant 
Free  Institutions.  The  great  body  of  emigrants 
to  Liberia,  and  nearly  all  the  leading  men  who 
have  sprung  up  in  the  Colony,  and  contributed 
most  to  the  formation  of  the  Kepublic,  went  out 
from  the  very  midst  of  Slavery ;  and  yet,  what 
encouraging  results  !  It  has  been  a  sad  mistake 
to  oppose  American  Colonization,  and  thus  to 
retard  Africa's  redemption ! 

But  how  has  it  fared  with  the  Free  colored 
people  elsewhere  ?  The  answer  to  this  question 
will  be  the  solution  of  the  inquiry,  What  has 
Abolitionism  accomplished  by  its  hostility  to 


COTTON  IS  KING.  133 

Colonization,  and  what  is  the  condition  of  the 
free  colored  people,  whose  interests  it  volunteered 
to  promote,  and  whose  destinies  it  attempted  to 
control  ? 

The  Abolitionists  themselves  shall  answer  this 
question.  The  colored  people  shall  see  what 
kind  of  commendations  their  tutors  give  them, 
and  what  the  world  is  to  think  of  them,  on  the 
testimony  of  their  particular  friends. 

The  concentration  of  a  colored  population  in 
Canada,  is  the  work  of  American  Abolitionists. 
In  1&48,  Kev.  E.  SMITH,  a  prominent  Aboli- 
tionist of  Ohio,  was  acting  as  their  agent,  in 
collecting  funds  for  their  relief.  In  an  appeal 
for  aid,  published  in  the  Clarion  of  Freedom, 
Feb.  18,  he  represented  them  as  "destitute  of 
education,  and,  like  all  other  uneducated  per- 
sons, having  no  great  appreciation  of  its  value, 
and  not  making  the  exertions  they  should  to 
secure  it  to  themselves  or  their  children." 

The  American  Missionary  Association,  is  the 
organ  of  the  Abolitionists,  for  the  spread  of  a 
Gospel  untainted,  it  is  claimed,  by  contact  with 
Slavery.  Out  of  four  stations  under  its  care, 


134  COTTON  IS  KING. 

in  Canada,  at  the  opening  of  1853,  but  one 
school,  that  of  Miss  LYON,  remained  at  its  close. 
All  the  others  were  abandoned,  and  all  the  mis- 
sionaries had  asked  to  be  released,0  as  we  are 
informed  by  its  Seventh  Annual  Eeport,  mainly, 
for  the  reasons  stated  in  the  following  extract, 
page  49  : 

"  The  number  of  missionaries  and  teachers 
in  Canada,  with  which  the  year  commenced, 
has  been  greatly  reduced.  Early  in  the  year, 
Mr.  KIRKLAND  wrote  to  the  Committee,  that 
the  opposition  to  white  missionaries,  manifested 
by  the  colored  people  of  Canada,  had  so  greatly- 
increased,  by  the  interested  misrepresentations 
of  ignorant  colored  men,  pretending  to  be  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel,  that  he  thought  his  own 
and  his  wife's  labors,  and  the  funds  of  the 
Association,  could  be  better  employed  else- 
wheie." 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  multiply  testimony 
on  this  subject,  but  simply  to  afford  an  index  to 
the  condition  of  the  colored  people,  as  described 

0  Mr.  WILSON,  the  Missionary  at  St.  Catherines,  still 
remained  there,  but  not  under  the  care  of  the  Association. 


COTTON  IS   KING.  135 

by  Abolition  pens,  best  known  to  the  public. 
West  India  Emancipation,  under  the  guidance 
of  English  Abolitionists,  has  always  been  viewed 
as  the  grand  experiment,  which  was  to  convince 
the  world  of  the  capacity  of  the  colored  man  to 
rise,  side  by  side,  with  the  white  man.  We 
shall  let  the  friends  of  the  system  testify  as  to 
its  results.  Opening,  again,  the  Seventh  Annual 
Eeport  of  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
page  30,  we  find  it  written : 

"  One  of  our  missionaries,  in  giving  a  descrip- 
tion gf  the  moral  condition  of  the  people  of 
Jamaica,  after  speaking  of  the  licentiousness 
which  they  received  as  a  legacy  from  those  who 
denied  them  the  pure  joys  of  holy  wedlock,  and 
trampled  upon  and  scourged  chastity,  as  if  it 
were  a  fiend  to  be  driven  out  from  among  men  — 
that  enduring  legacy  which,  with  its  foul,  pesti- 
lential influence,  still  blights,  like  the  mildew 
of  death,  everything  in  society  that  should  be 
lovely,  virtuous,  and  of  good  report ;  and  allud- 
ing to  their  intemperance,  in  which  they  have 
followed  the  example  set  by  the  Governor  in 
his  palace,  the  Bishop  in  his  robes,  statesmen 


136  COTTON  IS  KING. 

and  judges,  lawyers  and  doctors,  planters  and 
overseers,  and  even  professedly  Christian  minis- 
ters ;  and  the  deceit  and  falsehood  which  oppres- 
sion and  wrong  always  engender,  says :  *  It 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  we  are  following  in 
the  wake  of  the  accursed  system  of  Slavery  — 
a  system  that  unmakes  man,  by  warring  upon 
his  conscience  and  crushing  his  spirit,  leaving 
naught  but  the  shattered  wrecks  of  humanity 
behind  it.  If  we  may  but  gather  up  some  of 
these  floating  fragments,  from  which  the  image 
of  God  is  well  nigh  effaced,  and  pilot  them 
safely  to  that  better  land,  we  shall  not  have 
labored  in  vain.  But  we  may  hope  to  do  more. 
The  chief  fruit  of  our  labors  is  to  be  sought  in 
the  future  rather  than  in  the  present.'  It  should 
be  remembered,  too,  (continues  the  Eeport,)  that 
there  is  but  a  small  part  of  the  population  yet 
brought  within  the  reach  of  the  influence  of 
enlightened  Christian  teachers,  while  the  great 
mass  by  whom  they  are  surrounded  are  but  little 
removed  from  actual  heathenism. "  Another 
missionary,  page  33,  says,  it  is  the  opinion  of 
all  intelligent  Christian  men,  that  "  nothing 


COTTON  IS  KING.  137 

save  the  furnishing  of  the  people  with  ample 
means  of  education  and  religious  instruction 
will  save  them  from  relapsing  into  a  state  of 
barbarism."  And  another,  page  36,  in  speak- 
ing of  certain  cases  of  discipline,  for  the  highest 
form  of  crime,  under  the  seventh  commandment, 
says  :  "  There  is  nothing  in  public  sentiment  to 
save  the  youth  of  Jamaica  in  this  respect." 

The  missions  of  this  Association,  in  Jamaica, 
differ  scarcely  a  shade  from  those  among  the 
actual  heathen.  On  this  point,  the  Keport,  near 
its  clos^  says : 

"  Eor  most  of  the  adult  population  of  Jamaica, 
the  unhappy  victims  of  long  years  of  oppression 
and  degradation,  our  missionaries  have  great 
fear.  Yet  for  even  these  there  may  be  hope, 
even  though  with  trembling.  But  it  is  around 
the  youth  of  the  island  that  their  brightest 
hopes  and  anticipations  cluster  ;  from  them  they 
expect  to  gather  their  principal  sheaves  for  the 
great  Lord  of  the  harvest." 

Thus  far  we  have  drawn  upon  the  American 
Missionary  Association.  Next  we  turn  to  the 
Annual  Report  of  the  American  and  foreign 


138  COTTON   IS   KING. 

Anti-Slavery  Society,  1853,  which  discourses  thus, 
in  its  own  language,  and  in  quotations  which  it 
indorses :  ° 

"  The  friends  of  emancipation  in  the  United 
States  have  been  disappointed  in  some  respects 
at  the  results  in  the  West  Indies,  because  they 
expected  too  much.  A  nation  of  slaves  can  not 
at  once  be  converted  into  a  nation  of  intelligent, 
industrious,  and  moral  freemen."  °  °  "  It 
is  not  too  much,  even  now,  to  say  of  the  people 
of  Jamaica,  °  *  their  condition  is  exceed- 
ingly degraded,  their  morals  woefully  corrupt. 
But  this  must  by  no  means  be  understood  to  be 
of  universal  application.  With  respect  to  those 
who  have  been  brought  under  a  healthful  edu- 
cational and  religious  influence,  it  is  not  true. 
But  as  respects  the  great  mass,  whose  humanity 
has  been  ground  out  of  them  by  cruel  oppres- 
sion—  whom  no  good  Samaritan  hand  has  yet 
reached  —  how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  We  wish 
to  turn  the  tables  ;  to  supplant  oppression  by 
righteousness,  insult  by  compassion  and  brotherly- 

0  Page  170. 


COTTON  IS  KING.  139 

kindness,  hatred  and  contempt  by  love  and  win- 
ning meekness,  till  we  allure  these  wretched 
ones  to  the  hope  and  enjoyment  of  manhood  and 
virtue."*  °  °  "  The  means  of  education  and 
religious  instruction  are  better  enjoyed,  although 
but  little  appreciated  and  improved  by  the  great 
mass  of  the  people.  It  is  also  true,  that  the 
moral  sense  of  the  people  is  becoming  somewhat 
enlightened.  *  *  But  while*  this  is  true,  yet 
their  moral  condition  is  very  far  from  being  what 
it  ought  to  be.  °  *  It  is  exceeding  dark  and 
distressing.  Licentiousness  prevails  to  a  most 
alarming  extent  among  the  people.  *  °  The 
almost  universal  prevalence  of  intemperance  is 
another  prolific  source  of  the  moral  darkness 
and  degradation  of  the  people.  The  great  mass, 
among  all  classes  of  the  inhabitants,  from  the 
Governor  in  his  palace  to  the  peasant  in  his  hut — 
from  the  bishop  in  his  gown  to  the  beggar  in  his 
rags  —  are  all  slaves  to  their  cups."f 

0  Extract  from  the  report  of  a  missionary,  quoted  in 
the  Report,  page  172.  • 

f  Extract  from  the  report  of  another  missionary,  page 
171,  of  the  Report. 


140  COTTON  IS  KING. 

This  is  the  language  of  American  Abolition- 
ists, going  out  under  the  sanction  of  their  Annual 
Eeports.  Lest  it  may  be  considered  as  too  highly 
colored,  we  add  the  following  from  the  London 
Times,  of  near  the  same  date.  In  speaking  of 
the  results  of  emancipation,  in  Jamaica,  it  says : 

"  The  negro  has  not  acquired  with  his  free- 
dom any  habits  of  industry  or  morality.  His 
independence  is  but  little  better  than  that  of  an 
uncaptured  brute.  Having  accepted  few  of  the 
restraints  of  civilization,  he  is  amenable  to  few 
of  its  necessities  ;  and  the  wants  of  his  nature 
are  so  easily  satisfied,  that  at  the  current  rate 
of  wages,  he  is  called  upon  for  nothing  but  fit- 
ful or  desultory  exertion.  The  blacks,  there- 
fore, instead  of  becoming  intelligent  husband- 
men, have  become  vagrants  and  squatters,  and 
it  is  now  apprehended  that  with  the  failure  of 
cultivation  in  the  island  will  come  the  failure 
of  its  resources  for  instructing  or  controlling  its 
population.  So  imminent  does  this  consumma- 
tion appear,  that  memorials  have  been  signed 
by  classes  of  colonial  society  hitherto  standing 
aloof  from  politics,  and  not  only  the  bench  and 


COTTON   IS  KING.  141 

the  bar,  but  the  bishop,  clergy,  and  ministers 
of  all  denominations  in  the  island,  without  ex- 
ceptions, have  recorded  their  conviction,  that,  in 
the  absence  of  timely  relief,  the  religious  and 
educational  institutions  of  the  island  must  be 
abandoned,  and  the  masses  of  the  population 
retrograde  to  barbarism." 

One  of  the  editors  of  the  New  York  Moening 
Post,  Mr.  BIGELOW,  a  few  years  since,  spent  a 
winter  in  Jamaica,  and  continues  to  watch,  with 
anxious  solicitude,  as  an  Anti-Slavery  man,  the 
developments  taking  place  among  its  emanci- 
pated freed  mei>.  In  reviewing  the  returns  pub- 
lished by  the  Jamaica  House  of  Assembly,  in 
1853,  in  reference  to  the  ruinous  decline  in  the 
Agriculture  of  the  Island,  and  stating  the  enor- 
mous quantity  of  lands  thrown  out  of  cultiva- 
tion, since  1848,  the  Post  says  : 

"  This  decline  has  been  going  on  from  year 
to  year,  daily  becoming  more  alarming,  until  at 
length  the  Island  has  reached  what  would  appear 
to  be  the  last  profound  of  distress  and  misery, 
*  *  when  thousands  of  people  do  not  know, 
when  they  rise  in  the  morning,  whence  or  in 


142  COTTON  IS  KING. 

what  manner  they  are  to  procure  bread  for  the 
day." 

After  such  an  array  of  testimony  from  Aboli- 
tion authorities,  we  may  venture  to  present  some 
corroborative  evidence  from  other  sources.  GOV- 
ERNOR WOOD,  of  Ohio,  on  his  way  to  Valparaiso, 
in  1853,  thus  describes  what  he  witnessed,  at 
Kingston,  Jamaica,  while  the  steamer  remained 
in  that  port : 

"  We  saw  many  plantations,  the  buildings 
dilapidated — fields  of  sugar-cane  half-worked 
and  apparently  poor,  and  nothing  but  that  which 
will  grow  without  the  labor  of  man,  appeared 
luxuriant  and  flourishing.  The  island  itself  is 
of  great  fertility,  one  of  the  best  of  the  Antilles  ; 
but  all  the  large  estates  upon  it  are  now  fast 
going  to  ruin.  In  the  harbor  were  not  a  dozen 
ships  of  all  nations — no  business  was  doing,  and 
everything  you  heard  spoken  was  in  the  language 
of  complaint.  Since  the  blacks  have  been  liber- 
ated they  have  become  indolent,  insolent,  de- 
graded, and  dishonest.  They  are  a  rude,  beastly 
set  of  vagabonds,  lying  naked  about  the  streets, 
as  filthy  as  the  Hottentots,  and,  I  believe,  worse." 


COTTON   IS  KING.  143 

BISHOP  KIP,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  on  his  passage  to  California,  in  1853, 
bears  this  testimony  as  to  what  he  witnessed  at 
the  same  port,  while  the  steamer  stopped  to 
take  in  coal : 

"  The  streets  are  crowded  with  the  most 
wretched-looking  negroes  to  be  seen  on  the  face 
of  the  earth.  Lazy,  shiftless  and  diseased,  they 
will  not  work,  since  the  manumission  act  has 
freed  them.  Even  coaling  the  steamer  is  done 
by  women.  About  a  hundred  march  on  board 
in  a  line  with  tubs  on  their  heads  (tubs  and  coal 
together  weighing  about  90  pounds),  and  with 
a  wild  song  empty  them  into  the  hold.  The 
men  work  a  day,  and  then  live  on  it  a  week. 
The  depth  of  degradation  to  which  the  negro 
population  has  sunk,  is,  we  are  told,  inde- 
scribable.77 

The  foregoing  testimony  is  conclusive,  as  to 
the  results  of  emancipation  in  the  West  Indies. 
It  fully  confirms  the  opinions  of  FRANKLIN,  that 
freedom,  to  unenlightened  slaves,  must  be 
accompanied  with  the  means  of  intellectual  and 
moral  elevation,  otherwise  it  may  be  productive 


144  COTTON  IS  KING. 

of  serious  evils  to  themselves  and  to  society.  It 
also  sustains  the  views  entertained  by  Southern 
Slaveholders,  that  emancipation,  unaccompanied 
by  the  colonization  of  the  slaves,  could  be  of  no 
value  to  the  blacks,  while  it  would  entail  a 
ruinous  burden  upon  the  whites.  These  facts 
must  not  be  overlooked  in  the  projection  of  plans 
for  emancipation,  as  none  can  receive  the  sanc- 
tion of  Southern  men,  which  does  not  embrace 
in  it  the  removal  of  the  colored  people.  With 
the  example  of  West  India  emancipation  before 
them,  and  the  results  of  which  have  been  closely 
watched  by  them,  it  can  not  be  expected  that 
Southern  statesmen  will  risk  the  liberation  of 
their  slaves,  except  on  these  conditions. 

In  turning  to  the  condition  of  our  own  Free 
colored  people,  who  rejected  homes  in  Liberia, 
we  approach  a  most  important  subject.  They 
have  been  under  the  guardianship  of  their  Abo- 
lition friends,  ever  since  that  period,  and  have 
cherished  feelings  of  determined  hostility  to 
Colonization.  What  have  they  gained  by  this 
hostility?  What  has  been  accomplished  for 
them  by  their  Abolition  friends,  or  what  have 


COTTON   IS  KING.  145 

they  done  for  themselves?  Those  who  took 
refuge  in  Liberia,  have  built  up  a  Republic  of 
their  own,  and  are  recognized  as  an  independ- 
ent nation,  by  five  of  the  great  governments  of 
the  earth.  But  what  has  been  the  progress  of 
those  who  remained  behind,  in  the  vain  hope  of 
rising  to  an  equality  with  the  whites,  and  of 
assisting  in  abolishing  American  Slavery  ? 

We  offer  no  opinion,  here,  of  our  own,  as  to 
the  present  social  and  moral  condition  of  the 
Free  colored  people  in  the  North.  What  it  was 
at  the  time  of  the  founding  of  Liberia,  has 
already  been  shown.  On  this  subject  we  might 
quote  largely  from  the  proceedings  of  their  con- 
ventions, and  the  writings  of  their  editors,  so  as 
to  produce  a  dark  picture  indeed;  but  this 
would  be  cruel,  as  their  voices  are  but  the  wail- 
ings  of  noble,  sensitive,  and  benevolent  hearts, 
while  weeping  over  the  moral  desolations  that 
have  overwhelmed  their  people.  Nor  shall  we 
multiply  testimony  on  the  subject ;  but  in  this, 
as  in  the  case  of  Canada  and  the  West  Indies, 
allow  the  Abolitionists  to  speak  of  their  own 

schemes.     One  witness  only,  the  most  calm  and 
12 


146  COTTON  IS  KING. 

reliable  of  them  all,  need  be  quoted.  The  Hon. 
GERRITT  SMITH,  in  his  letter  to  GOVERNOK  HUNT, 
of  New  York,  in  1852,  while  speaking  of  his 
ineffectual  efforts,  for  fifteen  years  past,  to  pre- 
vail upon  the  Free  colored  people  to  betake 
themselves  to  mechanical  arid  agricultural  pur- 
suits, says : 

"  Suppose,  moreover,  that  during  all  these 
fifteen  years,  they  had  been  quitting  the  cities, 
where  the  mass  of  them  rot  both  physically  and 
morally,  and  had  gone  into  the  country  to  be- 
come farmers  and  mechanics — suppose,  I  say,  all 
this — and  who  would  have  the  hardihood  to 
affirm  that  the  Colonization  Society  lives  upon 
the  malignity  of  the  whites — but  it  is  true  that 
it  lives  upon  the  voluntary  degradation  of  the 
blacks.  I  do  not  say  that  the  colored  people  are 
more  debased  than  white  people  would  be  if 
persecuted,  oppressed  and  outraged  as  are  the 
colored  people.  But  I  do  say  that  they  are  de- 
based, deeply  debased;  and  that  to  recover 
themselves  they  must  become  heroes,  self- 
denying  heroes,  capable  of  achieving  a  great 
moral  victory  —  a  two-fold  victory  —  a  victory 


COTTON  IS  KING.  147 

over  themselves  and  a  victory  over  their  ene- 
mies." 

Here  we  must  close  our  testimony  on  this 
point.  The  condition  of  the  Free  colored  people 
can  now  be  understood.  The  results,  in  their 
case,  are  vastly  different  from  what  was  anti- 
cipated, when  British  philanthropists  succeeded 
in  West  India  emancipation.  They  are  very 
different,  also,  from  what  was  expected  by 
American  Abolitionists  —  so  different,  indeed, 
that  their  disappointment  is  fully  manifested,  in 
the  extracts  made  from  their  published  docu- 
ments. As  an  apology  for  the  failure,  it  seems 
to  be  their  aim  to  create  the  belief,  that  the 
dreadful  moral  depravation,  existing  in  the 
West  Indies,  is  wholly  owing  to  the  demoral- 
izing tendencies  of  Slavery.  They  speak  of  this 
effect  as  resulting  from  laws  inherent  in  the 
system,  which  have  no  exceptions,  and  must  be 
equally  as  active  in  the  United  States  as  in  the 
British  colonies.  But  in  their  zeal  to  cast  odium 
on  Slavery,  they  prove  too  much — for,  if  this  be 
true,  it  follows,  that  the  Slave  population  of 
the  United  States  must  be  equally  debased 


148  COTTON  IS  KING. 

with  that  of  Jamaica,  and  as  much  disquali- 
fied to  discharge  the  duties  of  freemen,  as 
both  have  been  subjected  to  the  operations  of 
the  same  system.  This  is  not  all.  The  logic 
of  the  argument  would  extend  even  to  our  free 
colored  people,  and  include  them,  according  to 
the  American  Missionary  Association,  in  the  dire 
effects  of  "  that  enduring  legacy  which,  with  its 
foul,  pestilential  influences,  still  blights,  like  the 
mildew  of  death,  everything  in  society  that 
should  be  lovely,  virtuous,  and  of  good  report." 
Now,  were  it  believed,  generally,  that  the  col- 
ored people  of  the  United  States  are  equally 
as  degraded  as  those  of  Jamaica,  upon  what 
grounds  could  any  one  advocate  the  admission  of 
the  blacks  to  equal  social  and  political  privi- 
leges with  the  whites  ?  Certainly,  no  Christian 
family  or  community  would  willingly  admit 
such  men  to  terms  of  social  or  political  equality  ! 
This,  we  repeat,  is  the  logical  conclusion  from 
the  Keports  of  the  American  Missionary  Associ- 
ation and  the  American  and  Foreign  Anti- Slavery 
Society — a  conclusion,  too,  the  more  certain,  as 
it  makes  no  exceptions  between  the  condition  of 


COTTON  IS  KING.  149 

the  colored  people  under  the  Slavery  of  Jamaica 
and  under  that  of  the  United  States. 

But  in  this,  as  in  much  connected  with  Slavery, 
Abolitionists  have  taken  too  limited  a  view  of 
the  subject.  They  have  not  properly  discrimi- 
nated between  the  effects  of  the  original  barbar- 
ism of  the  negroes,  and  the  effects  produced  by 
the  more  or  less  favorable  influences  to  which 
they  were  afterward  subjected  under  Slavery. 
This  point  deserves  special  notice.  According 
to  the  best  authorities,  the  colored  people  of 
Jamaica,  for  nearly  three  hundred  years,  were 
entirely  without  the  Gospel ;  and  it  gained  a 
permanent  footing  among  them,  only  at  a  few 
points,  at  their  emancipation,  twenty  years  ago ; 
so  that,  when  liberty  reached  them,  the  great 
mass  of  the  Africans,  in  the  British  West  Indies, 
were  heathen.*'  Let  us  understand  the  reason 
of  this.  Slavery  is  not  an  element  of  human 
progress,  under  which  the  mind  necessarily 
becomes  enlightened;  but  Christianity  is  the 
primary  element  of  progress,  and  can  elevate 

0  Rev.  Mr.  Phillippo,  for  twenty  years  a  missionary  in 
Jamaica,  in  his  "  Jamaica,  its  Past  and  Present  Condition." 


150  COTTON   IS   KING. 

the  savage,  whether  in  bondage  or  in  freedom, 
if  its  principles  are  taught  him  in  his  youth. 
The  Slavery  of  Jamaica  began  with  savage  men. 
For  three  hundred  years  its  slaves  were  desti- 
tute of  the  Gospel,  and  their  barbarism  was  left 
to  perpetuate  itself.  But  in  the  United  States, 
the  Africans  were  brought  under  the  influence 
of  Christianity,  on  their  first  introduction,  over 
',wo  hundred  and  thirty  years  since,  and  have 
,.ontinued  to  enjoy  its  teachings,  in  a  greater  or 
less  degree,  to  the  present  moment.  The  disap- 
pearance from  among  our  colored  people,  of  the 
heathen  condition  of  the  human  mind — the  in- 
capacity to  comprehend  religious  truths  —  and 
its  continued  existence  among  those  of  Jamaica, 
can  now  be  understood.  The  opportunities  en- 
joyed by  the  former,  for  advancement  over  the 
latter,  have  been  as  six  to  one.  With  these  facts 
before  the  mind,  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive, 
that  the  colored  population  of  Jamaica,  can  not 
but  still  labor  under  the  disadvantages  of  hered- 
itary heathenism  and  involuntary  servitude,  with 
the  superadded  misfortune  of  being  inadequately 
supplied  with  Christian  instruction,  along  with 


COTTON  IS  KING.  151 

their  recent  acquisition  of  freedom.  But  while 
all  this  must  he  admitted,  of  the  colored  people 
of  Jamaica,  it  is  not  true  of  those  of  our  own 
country ;  for,  long  since,  they  have  cast  off  the 
heathenism  of  their  fathers,  and  have  hecome 
enlightened  in  a  very  encouraging  degree. 
Hence  it  is,  that  the  colored  people  of  the 
United  States,  hoth  hond  and  free,  have  made 
vastly  greater  progress,  than  those  of  the  British 
West  Indies,  in  their  knowledge  of  moral  duties 
and  the  requirements  of  the  Gospel ;  and  hence, 
too,  it  is,  £hat  GERRITT  SMITH  is  right,  in  assert- 
ing, that  the  demoralized  condition  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  Free  colored  people,  in  our  cities,  is 
inexcusable,  and  deserving  of  the  utmost  repro- 
hation,  hecause  it  is  voluntary — they  knowing 
their  duty,  hut  abandoning  themselves  to  de- 
grading habits. 

This  brings  us  to  another  point  of  great 
moment.  It  will  be  denied  by  but  few  —  and 
by  none  maintaining  the  natural  equality  of  the 
races — that  the  Free  colored  people  of  the  United 
States  are  sufficiently  enlightened,  to  be  elevated, 
by  education,  as  readily  as  the  whites  of  similar 


152  COTTON  IS  KING. 

ages,  where  equal  restraints  from  vice,  and  en- 
couragements to  virtue  prevail.  A  large  por- 
tion, even,  of  the  slave  population,  are  similarly 
enlightened.0  We  speak  not  of  the  state  of 
their  morals. 

Why  is  it,  then,  that  the  efforts  to  elevate  the 
Free  colored  people,  have  been  so  unsuccessful  ? 
Before  answering  this  question,  it  is  necessary 
to  call  attention  to  the  fact,  that  Abolitionists 
seem  to  be  sadly  disappointed  in  their  expecta- 
tions, as  to  the  progress  of  the  free  colored 

0  As  many,  at  the  North,  are  not  aware  of  the  extent  to 
which  the  religious  training  of  the  slaves  at  the  South  pre- 
vails, we  append  the  following  paragraph,  in  relation  to  the 
doings  of  one  denomination,  alone,  in  South  Carolina. 
Similar  efforts,  more  or  less  extensive,  have  been  made  in 
the  other  States. 

"  KELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION  OF  SLAVES,— The  South  Carolina  Methodist 
Conference  have  a  missionary  committee  devoted  entirely  to  promot- 
ing the  religious  instruction  of  the  slave  population,  which  has  been 
in  existence  twenty-six  years.  The  report  of  the  last  year  shows  a 
greater  degree  of  activity  than  is  generally  known.  They  have 
twenty-six  missionary  stations  in  which  thirty-two  missionaries  are 
employed.  The  report  affirms  that  public  opinion  in  South  Carolina  is 
decidedly  in  favor  of  the  religious  instruction  of  slaves,  and  that  it  has 
become  far  more  general  and  systematic  than  formerly.  It  also  claims 
a  great  degree  of  success  to  have  attended  the  labors  of  the  mission- 
aries."—^. T.  Evangelist. 


COTTON   IS   KING.  153 

people.  Their  vexation  at  the  stubhornness  of  the 
Negroes,  and  the  consequent  failure  of  their 
measures,  is  very  clearly  manifested  in  the 
complaining  language,  used  by  GERRITT  SMITH, 
toward  the  colored  people  of  the  eastern  cities, 
as  well  as  by  the  contempt  expressed  by  the 
American  Missionary  Association,  for  the  colored 
preachers  of  Canada.  They  had  found  an  apol- 
ogy, for  their  want  of  success  in  the  United 
States,  in  the  presence  and  influence  of  Coloni- 
zationists  ;  but  no  such  excuse  can  be  made  for 
their  wa»t  of  success  in  Canada  and  the  West 
Indies.  Having  failed  in  their  anticipations, 
now  they  would  fain  shelter  themselves  under 
the  pretense,  that  a  people  once  subjected  to 
slavery,  even  when  liberated,  can  not  be  elevated 
in  a  single  generation  ;  that  the  case  of  adults, 
raised  in  bondage,  like  heathen  of  similar  age, 
is  hopeless,  and  their  children,  only,  can  make 
such  progress  as  will  repay  the  missionary  for 
his  toil.  But  they  will  not  be  allowed  to  escape 
the  censure  due  to  their  want  of  discrimination 
and  foresight,  by  any  such  plea  ;  as  the  success 

of  the  Republic  of  Liberia,  conducted  from  in- 
13 


154  COTTON   IS  KING. 

fancy  to  independence,  almost  wholly  by  lib- 
erated slaves,  and  those  who  were   born   and 

raised  in  the  midst  of  Slavery,  attests  the  falsity 

§ 
of  their  assumption. 

But  to  return.  Why  have  the  efforts  for  the 
elevation  of  the  free  colored  people,  not  been 
more  successful?  On  this  point  our  remarks 
may  be  limited  to  our  own  free  colored  people. 
The  barrier  to  their  progress  here,  exists  not  in 
their  want  of  capacity,  but  in  the  absence  of  the 
incitements  to  virtuous  action,  which  are -con- 
stantly stimulating  the  white  man  to  press 
onward  and  upward  in  the  formation  of  character 
and  the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  T^here  is  no 
position  in  church  or  state,  to  which  {he  poorest 
white  boy,  in  the  common  school,  may  not  aspire. 

There  is  no  post  of  honor,  in  the  gift  of  his 
country,  that  is  legally  beyond  his  reach.  But 
such  encouragements  to  noble  effort,  do  not 
reach  the  colored  man,  and  he  remains  with  us 
a  depressed  and  disheartened  being. '  Persuad- 
ing him  to  remain  in  this  hopeless  condition, 
has  been  the  great  error  of  the  Abolitionists. 
They  overlooked  the  teachings  of  history,  that 


COTTON   IS   KING.  155 

two  races,  differing  so  widely  as  to  prevent 
their  amalgamation  by  marriage,  can  never 
live  together,  in  the  same  community,  but  as 
superiors  and  inferiors  —  the  inferior  remain- 
ing subordinate  to  the  superior.  The  encour- 
aging hopes  held  out  to  the  colored  people,  that 
this  law  would  be  inoperative  upon  them,  has  led 
only  to  disappointment.  Happily,  this  delusion 
is  nearly  at  an  end  ;  and  they  are  beginning  to 
act  on  their  own  judgments.  They  find  them- 
selves so  scattered  and  peeled,  that  there  is  not 
another  kalf  million  of  men  in  the  world,  so 
enlightened,  who  are  accomplishing  so  little  for 
their  social  and  moral  advancement.  They 
perceive  that  they  are  nothing  but  branches, 
wrenched  from  the  great  African  banyan,  not 
yet  planted  in  genial  soil,  and  affording  neither 
shelter  nor  food  to  the  beasts  of  the  forest  or 
the  fowls  of  the  air  —  their  roots  unfixed  in  the 
earth,  and  their  tender  shoots  withering  as  they 
hang  pendent  from  their  boughs. 

But  little  progress,  then,  it  will  be  seen,  has 
been  made,  by  the  free  colored  people,  toward 
an  approximation  of  equality  with  the  whites. 


156  COTTON   IS   KING. 

Have  they  succeeded  better  in  aiding  to  abolish 
Slavery  ?  This  question  has  received  its  answer 
in  the  history  of  the  triumph  of  Slavery.  It 
is  an  important  one,  as  this  was  a  principal 
object  influencing  them  to  remain  in  the  coun- 
try. Their  agency  in  the  attempts  made  to 
abolish  the  institution  having  failed,  a  more 
important  question  arises,  as  to  whether  the 
free  colored  people,  by  refusing  to  emigrate, 
may  not  have  contributed  to  the  advancement 
of  slavery?  An  affirmative  answer  must  be 
given  to  this  inquiry.  Nor  is  a  protracted  dis- 
cussion necessary  to  prove  the  assertion. 

One  of  the  objections  urged  with  the  greatest 
force  against  Colonization,  is,  its  tendency,  as 
is  alleged,  to  increase  the  value  of  slaves  by 
diminishing  their  numbers.  "Jay's  Inquiry" 
1835,  presents  this  objection  at  length ;  and 
the  Keport  of  the  "  Anti- Slavery  Society,  of 
Canada"  1853,  sums  it  up  in  a  single  proposi- 
tion, thus : 

"  The  first  effect  of  beginning  to  reduce  the 
number  of  slaves,  by  colonization,  would  be  to 
increase  the  market  value  of  those  left  behind, 


\ 


COTTON   IS  KING.  157 

and  thereby  increase  the  difficulty  of  setting 
them  free." 

The  practical  effect  of  this  doctrine,  is  to  dis- 
courage all  emancipations;  to  render  eternal 
the  "bondage  of  each  individual  slave,  unless  all 
can  be  liberated  ;  to  prevent  the  benevolence  of 
one  master  from  freeing  his  slaves,  lest  his 
more  selfish  neighbor  should  be  thereby  en- 
riched; and  to  leave  the  whole  system  intact, 
until  its  total  abolition  can  be  effected.  Such 
philanthropy  would  leave  every  individual,  of 
suffering  millions,  to  groan  out  a  miserable 
existence,  because  it  could  not  at  once  effect  the 
deliverance  of  the  whole.  This  objection  to 
Colonization  can  be  founded  only  in  prejudice, 
or  is  designed  to  mislead  the  ignorant.  The 
advocates  of  this  doctrine  do  not  practice  it,  or 
they  would  not  promote  the  escape  of  fugitives 
to  Canada. 

But  Abolitionists  object  not  only  to  the  Colo- 
nization of  liberated  slaves,  as  tending  to  per- 
petuate Slavery ;  they  are  equally  hostile  to  the 
Colonization  of  the  Free  colored  people,  for  the 
same  reason.  The  "American  Reform  Tract 


158  COTTON  IS  KING. 

and  Book  Society"  the  organ  of  the  Abolitionists, 
for  the  publication  of  Anti-Slavery  works,  has 
issued  a  Tract  on  "  Colonization,"  in  which  this 
objection  is  stated  as  follows : 

"  The  Society  perpetuates  Slavery,  by  remov- 
ing the  free  laborer,  and  thereby  increasing  the 
demand  for,  and  the  value  of,  Slave  labor." 

The  projectors  and  advocates  of  such  views 
may  be  good  philanthropists,  but  they  are  bad 
philosophers.  We  have  seen  that  the  power  of 
American  Slavery,  lies  in  the  demand  for  its 
products ;  and  that  the  whole  country,  north  of 
the  sugar  and  cotton  States,  is  actively  employed 
in  the  production  of  provisions  for  the  support 
of  the  planter  and  his  slaves,  and  in  consuming 
the  products  of  Slave  labor.  This  is  the  con- 
stant vocation  of  the  whites.  And  how  is  it  with 
the  blacks?  Are  they  competing  with  the 
slaves,  in  the  cultivation  of  sugar  and  cotton,  or 
are  they  also  supporting  the  system,  by  con- 
suming its  products  ?  The  latitudes  in  which 
they  reside,  and  the  pursuits  in  which  they  are 
engaged,  will  answer  this  question. 

The  census  of  1850,  shows  but  40,900  free 


COTTON  IS  KING.  159 

colored  persons  in  the  nine  sugar  and  cotton 
States,  including  Texas,  Louisiana,  Arkansas, 
Tennessee,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Flori- 
da, and  South  Carolina,  while  393,500  are  living 
in  the  other  States.  North  Carolina  is  omitted, 
because  it  is  more  of  a  tobacco  and  wool-growing, 
than  cotton-producing  State.  Of  the  free  colored 
persons  in  the  first-named  States,  19,260  are 
in  the  cities  and  larger  towns ;  while,  of  the 
remainder,  a  considerable  number  may  be  in 
the  villages,  or  in  the  families  of  the  whites. 
From  these  facts  it  is  apparent,  that  less  than 
20,000  of  the  entire  Free  colored  population 
(omitting  those  of  North  Carolina),  are  in  a 
position  to  compete  with  Slave  labor,  while  all 
the  remainder,  numbering  over  412,800,  are 
engaged,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  in  sup- 
porting the  institution.  Even  the  fugitives 
escaping  to  Canada,  from  having  been  producers 
necessarily  become  consumers  of  Slave^grown 
products  ;  and,  worse  still,  under  the  reciprocity 
treaty,  they  must  also  become  growers  of  pro- 
visions for  the  planters  who  continue  to  hold  their 
brothers,  sisters,  wives  and  children,  in  bondage. 


160  COTTON   IS   KING. 

These  are  the  practical  results  of  the  policy 
of  the  Abolitionists.  Verily,  they,  also,  have 
dug  their  ditches  on  the  wrong  side  of  their 
breastworks,  and  afforded  the  enemy  an  easy 
entrance  into  their  fortress.  But,  "Let  them 
alone ;  they  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  And 
if  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into 
the  ditch."0 

But  a  brighter  day  is  dawning  for  the  Free 
colored  people.  They  are  wearied  in  watching 
for  the  "better  time  coming,"  promised  by  their 
white  friends,  and  are  unwilling  to  "  wait  a 
little  longer,"  as  runs  one  of  their  songs  of 
inaction.  To  collect  their  scattered  fragments  ; 
to  consolidate  their  divided  forces ;  to  sink  their 
individual  popularity  into  an  honored  nation- 
ality, is  now  the  aim  of  their  thoughtful  men. 

But  where  is  this  great  achievement  to  be 
made  ?  Not  in  the  organization  of  a  new  gov- 
ernment, as  no  part  of  the  earth  remains  unoc- 
cupied. It  must  be  by  a  fusion  with  one  already 
established.  But  what  one  ?  Not  with  one  like 
the  British  Colonies,  in  subjection  to  a  distant 

0  Matthew's  Gospel,  xv,  14. 


COTTON   IS  KING.  161 

throne,  and  nearly  destitute  of  schools  and  all 
the  means  of  intellectual  and  moral  improve- 
ment. It  must  be  with  one  possessing  the  ele- 
ments of  progress — which  offers  peace,  security, 
prosperity,  liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  and 
Protestant  Christianity.  No  other  will  meet 
their  wants ;  nor  should  any  other  be  adopted, 
as  worthy  colored  freemen,  who  have  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  republican  institutions  of  the  United 
States.  South  America  can  afford  no  suitable 
asylum,  as  the  diversity  of  language,  and  the 
antagonism  of  its  religion,  together  with  the 
frequency  of  its  civil  wars,  and  the  insecurity  of 
property  and  life,  forbid  their  choosing  a  home 
in  that  region. 

Thus,  Liberia  is  the  only  nation  with  which  a 
fusion,  by  the  free  colored  people,  can  be  safely 
made.  While  remaining  here,  they  must  con- 
tinue to  support  Slavery,  and  suffer  from  inade- 
quate means  of  improvement.  The  only  portion 
of  their  number,  who  have  escaped  from  all  con- 
nection with  Slavery,  are  those  who  have  removed 
to  Liberia.  In  that  Kepublic,  too,  all  the  neces- 
sary stimulants  to  civil,  social,  intellectual,  and 


162  COTTON   IS   KING. 

moral  advancement,  are  within  the  reach  of  the 
colored  man.  Nor  are  they  left  to  the  contin- 
gencies of  the  varying  prosperity  or  adversity  of 
the  colonists,  for  their  perpetuation.  The  four 
great  leading  Churches  in  the  United  States — 
the  Episcopal,  the  Methodist,  the  Presbyterian, 
and  the  Baptist — are  pledged  to  the  support  of 
its  educational  and  religious  institutions ;  and 
hence,  while  generations  will  certainly  he  needed 
for  the  elevation  of  the  Free  colored  people  here, 
strive  as  they  may,  a  single  one,  with  right- 
hearted  men,  can  do  the  work  there. 

4.  The  moral  relations  of  persons  holding  the 
per  se  doctrine,  on  the  subject  of  Slavery,  to 
the  purchase  and  consumption  of  Slave-labor 
products. 

Having  noticed  the  political  and  economical 
relations  of  Slavery,  it  may  be  expected  that  we 
shall  say  something  of  its  moral  relations.  In 
attempting  this,  we  choose  not  to  traverse  that 
interminable  labyrinth,  without  a  thread,  which 
includes  the  moral  character  of  the  system,  as 
it  respects  the  relation  betiveen  the  master  and  his 
slave.  Such  questions  are  left  for  those  who 


COTTON  IS  KING.  163 

believe  themselves  skilled  in  resolving  cases  of 
conscience,  or  framing  terms  of  Church  com- 
munion. The  only  aspect  in  which  we  care  to 
consider  it,  is  in  the  moral  relations  which  the 
consumers  of  Slave-labor  products  sustain  to 
Slavery — and  even  on  this  we  shall  offer  no 
opinion,  our  aim  being  only  to  promote  inquiry. 
This  view  of  the  question  is  not  an  unimport- 
ant one.  It  includes  the  germ  of  the  grand 
error  in  nearly  all  Anti-Slavery  effort ;  and  to 
which,  chiefly,  is  to  be  attributed  its  want  of 
moral  power  over  the  conscience  of  the  Slave- 
holder. The  recent  Abolition  movement,  was 
designed  to  create  a  public  sentiment,  in  the 
United  States,  that  should  be  equally  as  potent 
in  forcing  emancipation,  as  was  the  public  opin- 
ion of  Great  Britain.  But  why  have  not  the 
Americans  been  as  successful  as  the  English? 
This  is  an  inquiry  of  great  importance.  When 
the  Anti-Slavery  Convention,  which  met,  De- 
cember 6,  1833,  in  Philadelphia,  declared,  as  a 
part  of  its  creed :  "  That  there  is  no  differ- 
ence in  principle,  between  the  African  Slave 
Trade,  and  American  Slavery,"  it  meant  to  be 


164  COTTON  IS  KING. 

understood  as  teaching,  that  persons  who  pur- 
chased slaves  imported  from  Africa,  or  who  held 
their  offspring  as  slaves,  were  particeps  criminis, 
partakers  in  the  crime,  with  the  Slave-trader,  on 
the  principle  that  he  who  receives  stolen  pro- 
perty, knowing  it  to  be  such,  is  equally  guilty 
with  the  thief. 

On  this  point  DANIEL  O'CONNELL  was  very 
explicit,  when,  in  a  public  assembly,  he  used 
this  language  :  "  When  an  American  comes  into 
Society,  he  will  be  asked,  '  are  you  one  of  the 
thieves,  or  are  you  an  honest  man  ?  If  you  are 
an  honest  man,  then  you  have  given  liberty  to 
your  slaves ;  if  you  are  among  the  thieves,  the 
sooner  you  take  the  outside  of  the  house,  the 
better/  " 

The  error  just  referred  to  was  this :  they 
based  their  opposition  to  Slavery  on  the  prin- 
ciple, that  it  was  malum  in  se,  a  sin  in  itself, 
like  the  Slave  trade,  robbery,  and  murder ;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  continued  to  use  the  products 
of  the  labor  of  the  slave  as  though  they  had 
been  obtained  from  the  labor  of  freemen.  But 
this  seeming  inconsistency,  was  not  the  only 


COTTON   IS   KING.  165 

reason  why  they  failed  to  create  such  a  public 
sentiment,  as  would  procure  the  emancipation  of 
our  slaves.  The  English  Emancipationists  be- 
gan their  work  like  philosophers — addressing 
themselves  respectfully,  to  the  power  that  could 
grant  their  requests.  Beside  the  moral  argu- 
ment, which  declared  Slavery  a*  crime,  the 
English  philanthropists  labored  to  convince  Par- 
liament, that  emancipation  would  be  advan- 
tageous to  the  commerce  of  the  nation.  The 
commercial  value  of  the  Islands  had  been  re- 
duced o*e-third,  as  a  result  of  the  Abolition  of 
the  Slave  trade.  Emancipation,  it  was  argued, 
would  more  than  restore  their  former  prosperity, 
as  the  labor  of  freemen  was  twice  as  productive 
as  that  of  slaves.  But  American  Abolitionists 
commenced  their  crusade  against  Slavery,  by 
charging  those  who  sustained  it,  and  who  alone, 
held  the  power  to  manumit,  with  crimes  of  the 
blackest  die.  This  placed  the  parties  in  instant 
antagonism,  causing  all  the  arguments  on 
human  rights,  and  the  sinfulness  of  Slavery,  to 
fall  without  effect  upon  the  ears  of  angry  men. 
The  error  on  this  point,  consisted  in  failing  to 


166  COTTON  IS  KING. 

discriminate  between  the  sources  of  the  power 
over  emancipation  in  England  and  in  the  United 
States.  With  Great  Britain,  the  power  was  in 
Parliament.  The  masters,  in  the  West  Indies, 
had  no  voice  in  the  question.  It  was  the  voters 
in  England  alone  who  controlled  the  elections, 
and,  consequently,  controlled  Parliament.  But 
the  condition  of  things  in  the  United  States  is 
the  reverse  of  what  it  was  in  England.  With 
us,  the  power  of  emancipation  is  in  the  States, 
not  in  Congress.  The  Slaveholders  elect  the 
members  to  the  State  Legislatures;  and  they 
choose  none  but  such  as  agree  with  them  in 
opinion.  It  matters  not,  therefore,  what  public 
sentiment  may  be  at  the  North,  as  it  has  no 
power  over  the  Legislatures  of  the  South.  Here, 
then,  is  the  difference :  with  us  the  Slaveholder 
controls  the  question  of  emancipation — in  Eng- 
land the  consent  of  the  master  was  not  necessary 
to  the  execution  of  that  work. 

Our  Anti-Slavery  men  seem  to  have  fallen 
into  their  errors  of  policy,  by  following  the  lead 
of  those  of  England,  who  manifested  a  total 
ignorance  of  the  relations  existing  between  our 


COTTON   IS   KING.  167 

General  Government  and  that  of  the  States.  On 
the  Abolition  platform,  Slaveholders  found  them-, 
selves  placed  in  the  same  category  with  Slave- 
traders  and  thieves.  They  were  told,  that  all 
laws  giving  them  power  over  the  slave,  were 
void,  in  the  sight  of  Heaven ;  and  that  their 
appropriation  of  the  fruits  of  the  labor  of  the 
slave,  was  robbery.  Had  the  preaching  of  these 
principles  produced  conviction,  it  must  have 
promoted  emancipation.  But,  unfortunately, 
while  these  doctrines  were  held  up  to  the  gaze 
of  Slaveholders,  in  the  one  hand  of  the  ex- 
horter,  they  beheld  his  other  hand  stretched  out, 
from  beneath  his  cloak  of  seeming  sanctity,  to 
clutch  the  products  of  the  very  robbery  he  was 
professing  to  condemn !  Take  a  fact  in  proof 
of  this  view  of  the  subject. 

At  the  date  of  the  declarations  of  DANIEL 
O'CoNNELL,  on  behalf  of  the  English,  and  by 
the  Philadelphia  Anti-Slavery  Convention,  on 
the  part  of  Americans,  the  British  Manufactu- 
rers were  purchasing,  annually,  about  300,000,- 
000  Ibs.  of  cotton,  from  the  very  men  denounced 
as  equally  criminal  with  Slave-traders  and 


168  COTTON  IS   KING. 

thieves;  and  the  people  of  the  United  States 
were  almost  wholly  dependent  upon  Slave  labor 
for  their  supplies  of  cottons  and  groceries.  It  is 
no  matter  for  wonder,  therefore,  that  Slavehold- 
ers should  treat,  as  fiction,  the  doctrine  that 
Slave-labor  products  are  the  fruits  of  robbery, 
so  long  as  they  are  purchased,  without  scruple, 
by  all  classes  of  men,  in  Europe  and  America. 
The  pecuniary  argument  for  emancipation,  that 
Free  labor  is  more  profitable  than  Slave  labor, 
was  also  urged  here ;  but  was  treated  as  the 
greatest  absurdity.  The  masters  had  before 
their  eyes,  the  evidence  of  the  falsity  of  the  as- 
sertion, that,  if  emancipated,  the  Slaves  would 
be  doubly  profitable  as  free  laborers.  The  re- 
verse was  admitted,  on  all  hands,  fco  be  true  in 
relation  to  our  colored  people. 

But  this  question,  of  the  moral  relations 
which  the  consumers  of  slave-labor  products 
sustain  to  Slavery,  is  one  of  too  important  a 
nature  to  be  passed  over  without  a  closer  exam- 
ination ;  and,  beside,  it  is  involved  in  less  obscu- 
rity than  the  morality  of  the  relation  existing 
between  the  master  and  the  slave.  Its  consider- 


COTTON   IS   KING.  169 

ation,  too,  affords  an  opportunity  of  discrimina- 
ting between  the  different  opinions  entertained 
on  the  hroad  question  of  the  morality  of  the 
institution,  and  enables  us  to  judge  of  the  con- 
sistency and  consciousness  of  every  man,  by  the 
standard  which  he  himself  adopts. 

The  prevalent  opinions,  as  to  the  morality  of 
the  Institution  of  Slavery,  in  the  United  States, 
may  be  classified  under  three  heads.  1.  That 
it  is  justified  by  Scripture  example  and  precept. 

2.  That  it  is  a  great  civil  and  social  evil,  result- 
ing frodi  ignorance  and  degradation,  like  despotic 
systems  of  Government,  and  may  be  tolerated 
until   its  subjects    are    sufficiently  enlightened 
to  render  it  safe  to  grant  them  equal  rights. 

3.  That  it  is  malum  in  se,  a  sin  in  itself,  like 
robbery  and  murder,  and  cannot  be  sustained, 
for  a  moment,  without  sin ;  and,  like  sin,  should 
be  immediately  abandoned. 

Those  who  consider  Slavery  sanctioned  by  the 
Bible,  conceive  that  they  can,  consistently  with 
their  creed,  not  only  hold  slaves,  and  use  the 
products  of  slave  labor,  without  doing  vio- 
lence to  their  consciences,  but  may  adopt 
14 


170  COTTON   IS   KING. 

measures  to  perpetuate  the  system.  Those  who 
consider  Slavery  merely  a  great  civil  and  social 
evil,  a  despotism  that  may  engender  oppression, 
or  may  not,  are  of  opinion  that  they  may  pur- 
chase and  use  its  products,  or  interchange  their 
own  for  those  of  the  Slaveholder,  as  free  Govern- 
ments hold  commercial  and  diplomatic  inter- 
course with  despotic  ones,  without  "being  respon- 
sible for  the  moral  evils  connected  with  the 
system.  But  the  position  of  those  who  believe 
Slavery  malum  in  se,  like  the  slave  trade,  robbery 
and  murder,  is  a  very  different  one  from  either 
of  the  other  classes,  as  it  regards  the  purchase 
and  use  of  Slave-labor  products.  Let  us  illus- 
trate this  by  a  case  in  point : 

A  company  of  men  hold  a  number  of  their 
fellow-men  in  bondage,  under  the  laws  of  the 
commonwealth  in  which  they  live,  so  that  they 
can  compel  them  to  work  their  plantations,  and 
raise  horses,  cattle,  hogs,  and  cotton.  These 
products  of  the  labor  of  the  oppressed,  are  appro- 
priated by  the  oppressors  to  their  own  use,  and 
taken  into  the  markets  for  sale.  Another  com- 
pany proceed  to  a  community  of  freemen,  who 


COTTON   IS  KING.  171 

have  labored  voluntarily  during  the  year,  seize 
their  persons,  bind  them,  convey  away  their 
horses,  cattle,  hogs,  and  cotton,  and  take  the 
property  to  market.  The  first  association  repre- 
sents the  Slaveholders ;  the  second  a  band  of 
robbers.  The  commodities  of  both  parties,  are 
openly  offered  for  sale,  and  every  one  knows  how 
the  property  of  each  was  obtained.  Those  who 
believe  the  per  se  doctrine,  place  both  these  asso- 
ciations in  the  same  moral  category,  and  call 
them  robbers.  Judged  by  this  rule,  the  first 
band  a*e  the  more  criminal,  as  they  have  de- 
prived their  victims  of  personal  liberty,  forced 
them  into  servitude,  and  then  taken  from  them, 
without  pay,  the  proceeds  of  their  labor.  The 
second  band  have  only  deprived  their  victims 
of  liberty,  while  they  robbed  them ;  and  thus 
have  committed  but  two  crimes,  while  the  first 
have  perpetrated  three.  These  parties  attempt 
to  negotiate  the  sale  of  their  cotton,  say  in  Lon- 
don. The  first  company  dispose  of  their  cargo 
without  difficulty  —  no  one  manifesting  the 
slightest  scruple  at  purchasing  the  products  of 
Slave-labor.  But  the  second  company  are  not  so 


172  COTTON  IS  KING. 

fortunate.  As  soon  as  their  true  character  is 
ascertained,  the  police  drag  its  members  to  Court, 
where  they  are  sentenced  to  Bridewell.  In  vain 
do  these  robbers  quote  the  Philadelphia  Anti- 
Slavery  Convention,  and  Daniel  O'Connell,  to 
prove  that  their  cotton  was  obtained  by  means 
no  more  criminal  than  that  of  the  Slaveholders, 
and  that,  therefore,  judgment  ought  to  be  re- 
versed. The  Court  will  not  entertain  such  a 
plea,  and  they  have  to  endure  the  penalty  of  the 
law.  Now,  why  this  difference,  if  Slavery  be 
malum  in  se?  And  if  the  receiver  of  stolen 
property  is  particeps  criminis  with  the  thief,  why 
is  it,  that  the  Englishman,  who  should  receive 
and  sell  the  cotton  of  the  robbers,  would  run 
the  risk  of  being  sent  to  prison  with  them,  while 
if  he  acted  as  agent  of  the  Slaveholders,  he 
would  be  treated  as  an  honorable  man  ?  If  the 
master  has  no  moral  right  to  hold  his  slaves,  in 
what  respect  can  the  products  of  their  labor 
differ  from  the  property  acquired  by  robbery  ? 
And  if  the  property  be  the  fruits  of  robbery, 
how  can  any  one  use  it,  without  violating  con- 
science ? 


COTTON  IS   KING.  173 

We  have  met  with  the  following  sage  exposi- 
tion of  the  question,  in  justification  of  the  use 
of  Slave-lahor  products,  by  those  who  believe 
the  per  se  doctrine  :  The  master  owns  the  lands, 
gives  his  skill  and  intelligence  to  direct  the 
labor,  and  feeds  and  clothes  the  slaves.  The 
slaves,  therefore,  are  entitled  only  to  a  part  of 
the  proceeds  of  their  labor,  while  the  master  is 
also  justly  entitled  to  a  part  of  the  crop.  When 
brought  into  market,  the  purchaser  can  not 
know  what  part  belongs,  rightfully,  to  the  mas- 
ter and v  what  to  his  slaves,  as  the  whole  is 
offered  in  bulk.  He  may,  therefore,  purchase 
the  whole,  innocently,  and  throw  the  sinfulness 
of  the  transaction  upon  the  master,  who  sells 
what  belongs  to  others.  But  if  the  per  se 
doctrine  be  true,  this  apology  for  the  purchaser, 
is  not  a  justification.  Where  a  "  confusion  of 
goods  "  has  been  made  by  one  of  the  owners, 
so  that  they  cannot  be  separated,  he  who  "  con- 
fused" them  can  have  no  advantage,  in  law, 
from  his  own  wrong,  but  the  goods  are  awarded 
to  the  innocent  party.  On  this  well  known 
principle  of  law,  this  most  equitable  rule,  the 


174  COTTON   IS  KING. 

master  forfeits  his  right  in  the  property,  and 
the  purchaser,  knowing  the  facts,  becomes  a 
party  in  his  guilt.  But  aside  from  this,  the 
"  confusion  of  goods,"  by  the  master,  can  give 
him  no  moral  right  to  dispose  of  the  interest  of 
his  slaves  therein  for  his  own  benefit ;  and  the 
persons  purchasing  such  property,  acquire  no 
moral  right  to  its  possession  and  use.  These 
are  sound,  logical  views.  The  argument  offered, 
in  justification  of  those  who  hold  that  Slavery 
is  malum  in  se,  is  the  strongest  that  can  be 
made.  It  is  apparent,  then,  from  a  fair  analysis 
of  their  own  principles,  that  they  are  particeps 
criminis  with  Slaveholders. 

Again,  if  the  laws  regulating  the  institution 
of  Slavery,  be  morally  null  and  void,  and  not 
binding  on  the  conscience,  then,  the  slaves  have 
a  moral  right  to  the  proceeds  of  their  labor. 
This  right  can  not  be  alienated  by  any  act 
of  the  master,  but  attaches  to  the  property 
wherever  it  may  be  taken,  and  to  whomsoever 
it  may  be  sold.  This  principle,  in  law,  is  also 
well  established.  The  recent  decision  on  the 
"  Gardiner  fraud,"  confirms  it ;  the  Court 


COTTON  IS  KING.  175 

asserting,  that  the  money  paid  out  of  the  Treas- 
ury of  the  United  States,  under  such  circum- 
stances, continued  its  character  as  the  money 
and  property  of  the  United  States,  and  may  be 
followed  into  the  hands  of  those  who  cashed  the 
orders  of  Gardiner,  and  subsequently  drew  the 
money,  but  who  are  not  the  true  owners  of  the 
said  fund ;  and  decreeing  that  the  amount  of 
funds,  thus  obtained,  be  collected  off  the  estate 
of  said  Gardiner,  and  off  those  who  drew  funds 
from  the  Treasury,  on  his  orders. 

These  vprinciples  of  law  are  so  well  under- 
stood, by  every  man  of  intelligence,  that  we  can 
not  conceive  how  those  advocating  the  per  se  doc- 
trines, if  sincere,  can  continue  in  the  constant 
use  of  Slave-grown  products,  without  a  perpetual 
violation  of  conscience  and  of  all  moral  law. 
Taking  them  under  protest,  against  the  Slavery 
which  produced  them,  is  ridiculous.  Refusing 
to  fellowship  the  Slaveholer,  while  eagerly  appro- 
priating the  products  of  the  labor  of  the  slave, 
which  he  brings  in  his  hand,  is  contemptible. 
The  most  noted  case  of  the  kind,  is  that  of  the 
British  Committee,  who  had  charge  of  the 


176  COTTON  IS  KING. 

preliminary  arrangements  for  the  admission  of 
members  to  the  WORLD'S  CHRISTIAN  EVANGEL- 
ICAL ALLIANCE.  One  of  the  rules  it  adopted, 
hut  which  the  Alliance  afterward  modified,  ex- 
cluded all  American  clergymen,  suspected  of  a 
want  of  orthodoxy  on  the  per  se  doctrine,  from 
seats  in  that  body.  Their  language,  to  Amer- 
ican clergymen,  was  virtually,  "  Stand  aside,  I 
am  holier  than  thou  ;  while,  at  the  same  moment 
their  parishioners,  the  manufacturers,  had  about 
completed  the  purchase  of  624,000,000  Ibs.  of 
cotton,  for  the  consumption  of  their  mills,  during 
the  year;  the  bales  of  which,  piled  together, 
would  have  reached  mountain-high,  displaying 
mostly  the  brands,  "  New  Orleans,"  "  Mobile," 
"  Charleston." 

As  not  a  word  was  said,  by  the  Committee, 
against  the  Englishmen  who  were  buying  and 
manufacturing  American  cotton — the  case  may 
be  viewed  as  one  in  which  the  fruits  of  robbery 
were  taken  under  protest  against  the  robbers 
themselves.  To  all  intelligent  men,  the  con- 
duct of  the  people  of  Britain,  in  protesting 
against  Slavery,  as  a  system  of  robbery,  while 


COTTON  IS  KING.  177 

continuing  to  purchase  such  enormous  quantities 
of  the  cotton  produced  by  slaves,  appears  as 
Pharisaical  as  the  conduct  of  the  conscientious 
Scotchman,  in  early  times,  in  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania, who  married  his  wife  under  protest 
against  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and,  especially,  against  the  authority, 
power,  and  right  of  the  magistrate  who  had  just 
tied  the  knot.* 

0  An  anecdote,  illustrative  of  the  pliability  of  some  con- 
sciences, of  this  apparently  rigid  class,  where  interest  or 
inclinationvdemands  it,  has  often  been  told  by  the  late  Gov- 
ernor Morrow,  of  Ohio.  An  old  Scotch  "  Cameronian,"  in 
Eastern  Pennsylvania,  became  a  widower,  shortly  after  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He 
refused  to  acknowledge  either  the  National  or  State  Gov- 
ernments, but  pronounced  them  both  unlawful,  unright- 
eous, and  ungodly.  Soon  he  began  to  feel  the  want  of  a 
wife,  to  care  for  his  motherless  children.  The  consent  of  a 
woman  in  his  own  church  was  gained,  because  to  take  any 
other  would  have  been  like  an  Israelite  marrying  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  land  of  Canaan.  On  this  point,  as  in  refusing 
to  swear  allegiance  to  Government,  he  was  controlled  by 
conscience.  But  now  a  practical  difficulty  presented  itself. 
There  was  no  minister  of  his  church  in  the  country — and 
those  of  other  denominations,  in  his  judgment,  had  no  Di- 
vine warrant  for  exercising  the  functions  of  the  sacred 

15 


178  COTTON  IS  KING. 

Such  pliable  consciences,  doubtless,  are  very 
convenient  in  cases  of  emergency.  But  as  they 
relax  when  selfish  ends  are  to  be  subserved,  and 

office.  He  repudiated  the  whole  of  them.  But  how  to  get 
married,  that  was  the  problem.  He  tried  to  persuade  his 
intended  to  agree  to  a  marriage  contract,  before  witnesses, 
which  could  be  confirmed  whenever  a  proper  minister 
should  arrive  from  Scotland.  But  his  "lady-love"  would 
not  consent  to  the  plan.  She  must  be  married  "  like  other 
folk,"  or  not  at  all — because  "  people  would  talk  so."  The 
Scotchman  for  want  of  a  wife,  like  Great  Britain  for  want 
of  cotton,  saw  very  plainly  that  his  children  must  suffer ; 
and  so  he  resolved  to  get  married,  at  all  hazards,  as  Eng- 
land buys  her  cotton,  but  so  as  not  to  violate  conscience. 
Proceeding,  with  his  intended,  to  a  magistrate's  office,  the 
ceremony  was  soon  performed,  and  they  twain  pronounced 
"  one  flesh."  But  no  sooner  had  he  "  kissed  the  bride,"  the 
sealing  act  of  the  contract  at  that  day,  than  the  good 
Cameronian  drew  a  written  document  from  his  pocket, 
which  he  read  aloud,  before  the  officer  and  witnesses  ;  and 
in  which  he  entered  his  solemn  protest  against  the  author- 
ity of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  against  that  of 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  especially  against  the  power, 
right,  and  lawfulness  of  the  acts  of  the  magistrate,  who 
had  just  married  him.  This  done,  he  went  his  way,  rejoic- 
ing that  he  had  secured  a  wife  without  recognizing  the 
lawfulness  of  ungodly  Governments,  or  violating  his  con- 
science. 


COTTON   IS  KING.  179 

retain  their  rigidity  only  when  judging  the  con- 
duct of  others,  the  inference  is,  that  the  persons 
possessing  them  are  either  hypocritical,  or  else, 
as  was  acknowledged  by  Parson  D.,  in  similar 
circumstances,  they  have  mistaken  their  preju- 
dices for  their  consciences. 

So  far  as  Britain  is  concerned,  she  is,  mani- 
festly, much  more  willing  to  receive  American 
Slave-labor  cotton  for  her  factories,  than  Amer- 
ican republican  principles  for  her  people.  And 
why  so  ?  The  profits  derived  by  her,  from  the 
purchase  and  manufacture  of  Slave-labor  cotton, 
constitute  so  large  a  portion  of  the  means  of  her 
prosperity,  that  the  government  could  not  sus- 
tain itself  were  the  supplies  of  this  article  cut 
off.  It  is  easy  to  divine,  therefore,  why  the 
people  of  England  are  boundless  in  their  denun- 
ciations of  American  Slavery,  while  not  a  single 
remonstrance  goes  up  to  the  throne,  against  the 
import  of  American  cotton.  Should  she  exclude 
it,  the  act  would  render  her  unable  to  pay  the 
interest  on  her  national  debt ;  and  many  a 
declaimer  against  Slavery,  losing  his  income, 
would  have  to  go  supperless  to  bed. 


180  COTTON  IS  KING. 

Let  us  contrast  the  conduct  of  a  pagan  gov- 
ernment with  that  of  Great  Britain.  When  the 
Emperor  of  China  hecame  fully  convinced  of  his 
inability  to  resist  the  prowess  of  the  British 
arms,  in  the  famous  "  Opium  War,"  efforts  were 
made  to  induce  him  to  legalize  the  traffic  in 
opium,  by  levying  a  duty  on  its  import,  that 
should  yield  him  a  heavy  profit.  This  he  re- 
fused to  do,  and  recorded  his  decision  in  these 
memorable  words : 

"It  is  true  I  can  not  prevent  the  introduction 
of  the  flowing  poison.  Gain-seeking  and  corrupt 
men  will,  for  profit  and  sensuality,  defeat  my 
wishes,  but  nothing  will  induce  me  to  derive 
a  revenue  from  the  vice  and  misery  of  my 
people."0 

The  reason  can  now  be  clearly  comprehended, 
why  Abolitionists  have  had  so  little  moral  power 
over  the  conscience  of  the  Slaveholder.  Their 
practice  has  been  inconsistent  with  their  pre- 
cepts ;  or,  at  least,  their  conduct  has  been  liable 
to  this  construction.  Nor  do  we  perceive  how 
they  can  exert  a  more  potent  influence,  in  the 
0  National  Intelligencer,  1854. 


COTTON  IS   KING.  181 

future,  unless  their  energies  are  directed  to 
efforts  such  as  will  relieve  them  from  a  position 
so  inconsistent  with  their  professions,  as  that  of 
constantly  purchasing  products  which  they, 
themselves,  declare  to  he  the  fruits  of  rohhery. 
While,  therefore,  things  remain  as  they  are, 
with  the  world  so  largely  dependent  upon  Slave 
lahor,  how  can  it  he  otherwise,  than  that  the  sys- 
tem will  continue  to  nourish?  And  while  its  pro- 
ducts are  used  "by  all  classes,  of  every  sentiment, 
and  country,  nearly,  how  can  the  Slaveholder 
he  brought  to  see  anything,  in  the  practice  of 
the  world,  to  alarm  his  conscience,  and  make  him 
cringe,  before  his  fellow-men,  as  a  guilty  robber  ? 
But,  has  nothing  worse  occurred  from  the  ad- 
vocacy of  the  per  se  doctrine,  than  an  exhibition 
of  inconsistency  on  the  part  of  Abolitionists,  and 
the  perpetuation  of  Slavery  resulting  from  their 
conduct?  This  has  occurred.  Three  highly 
respectable  religious  denominations,  now  limited 
to  the  North  —  the  Associate  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  Eeformed  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  the  Associate  Keformed  Presbyterian 
Church — had  once  many  flourishing  congrega- 


182  COTTON  IS  KING. 

tions  in  the  South.  On  the  adoption  of  the  per 
Be  doctrine,  by  their  respective  Synods,  these 
congregations  became  disturbed,  were  soon  after 
broken  up,  or  the  ministers  in  charge  had  to 
seek  other  fields  of  labor.  Their  system  of  re- 
ligious instruction,  for  the  family,  being  quite 
thorough,  the  Slaves  were  deriving  much  ad- 
vantage from  the  influence  of  these  bodies.  But 
when  they  resolved  to  withhold  the  Gospel  from 
the  Master,  unless  he  would  emancipate,  they 
also  withdrew  the  means  of  grace  from  the 
Slave  ;  and,  so  far  as  they  were  concerned,  left 
him  to  perish  eternally  !  Whether  this  course 
was  proper,  or  whether  it  would  have  been  bet- 
ter to  have  passed  by  the  morality  of  the  legal 
relation,  in  the  creation  of  which  the  master 
had  no  agency,  and  considered  him,  under  Prov- 
idence, as  the  moral  guardian  of  the  Slave, 
bound  to  discharge  a  guardian's  duty  to  an  im- 
mortal being,  we  shall  not  undertake  to  deter- 
mine. Attention  is  called  to  the  facts,  merely,  to 
show  the  practical  effects  of  the  action  of  these 
Churches  upon  the  Slave,  and  what  the  per  se  doc- 
trine has  done  in  depriving  him  of  the  Gospel. 


COTTON  IS  KING.  183 

Another  remark,  and  we  have  done  with  this 
topic.  Nothing  is  more  common,  in  certain 
circles,  than  denunciations  of  the  Christian  men 
and  ministers,  who  refuse  to  adopt  the  per  se 
principle.  We  leave  others  to  judge  whether 
these  censures  are  merited.  One  thing  is  cer- 
tain :  those  who  helieve  that  Slavery  is  a  great 
civil  and  social  evil,  entailed  upon  the  country, 
and  are  extending  the  Gospel  to  "both  Master 
and  Slave,  with  the  hope  of  removing  it  peace- 
fully, cannot  be  reproached  with  acting  incon- 
sistently with  their  own  principles  ;  while  those 
who  declare  Slavery  malum  in  se,  and  refuse  to 
fellowship  the  Christian  Slaveholder,  hut  yet  use 
the  products  of  Slave-labor,  may  fairly  be  class- 
ified, on  their  principles,  with  the  hypocritical 
people  of  Israel,  who  were  thus  reproached  by 
the  Most  High  :  "  What  hast  thou  to  do  to  de- 
clare my  statutes,  or  that  thou  shouldst  take  my 
covenant  in  thy  mouth  ?  °  °  °  When  thou 
sawest  a  thief,  then  thou  consentedst  with 


0  Psalm  1,  16,  18. 


184  COTTON   IS  KING. 

CONCLUSION. 

IN  concluding  our  labors,  there  is  little  need 
of  extended  observation.  The  work  of  Emanci- 
pation, in  our  country,  was  checked,  and  the 
extension  of  Slavery  promoted : — first,  by  the 
Free  Colored  People  neglecting  to  improve  the 
advantages  afforded  them;  second,  by  the  in- 
creasing value  imparted  to  Slave-labor ;  third, 
by  the  mistaken  policy  into  which  the  Abolition- 
ists have  fallen.  Whatever  reasons  might  now 
be  offered,  for  emancipation,  from  an  improve- 
ment of  our  Free  colored  people,  is  far  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  its  failure  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  the  constantly  increasing  value  of 
the  labor  of  the  Slave.  If,  when  the  Planters 
had  only  a  moiety  of  the  markets  for  Cotton, 
the  value  of  Slavery  was  such  as  to  arrest  eman- 
cipation, how  must  the  obstacles  be  increased, 
now,  when  they  have  the  monopoly  of  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world? 

We  propose  not  to  speak  of  remedies  for 
Slavery.  That  we  leave  to  others.  Thus  far 
this  great  civil  and  social  evil,  has  baffled  all 


COTTON  IS  KING.  185 

human  wisdom.  Either  some  radical  defect 
must  have  existed,  in  the  measures  devised  for 
its  removal,  or  the  time  has  not  yet  come  for 
successfully  assailing  the  Institution.  Our 
work  is  completed,  in  the  delineation  we  have 
given  of  its  varied  relations  to  our  commercial 
and  social  interests.  As  the  monopoly  of  the 
culture  of  Cotton,  imparts  to  Slavery  its  eco- 
nomical value,  the  system  will  continue  as  long 
as  this  monopoly  is  maintained.  Slave-Labor 
products  have  now  become  necessities  of  human 
life,  to  £he  extent  of  more  than  half  the  com- 
mercial articles  supplied  to  the  Christian  world. 
Even  Free  labor,  itself,  is  made  largely  subser- 
vient to  Slavery,  and  vitally  interested  in  its 
perpetuation  and  extension. 

Can  this  condition  of  things  be  changed  ?  It 
may  be  reasonably  doubted,  whether  anything 
efficient  can  be  speedily  accomplished:  not  be- 
cause there  is  lack  of  territory  where  freemen 
may  be  employed  in  tropical  cultivation ;  not 
because  intelligent  free-labor  is  less  productive 
than  slave-labor;  but  because  freemen,  whose 
constitutions  are  adapted  to  tropical  climates, 


186  COTTON   IS  KING. 

will  not  avail   themselves  of  the  opportunity- 
offered  for  commencing  such  an  enterprise. 

KING  COTTON  cares  not  whether  he  employs 
slaves  or  freemen.  It  is  the  cotton,  not  the  slaves, 
upon  which  his  throne  is  hased.  Let  freemen 
do  his  work  as  well,  and  he  will  not  ohject  to 
the  change.  Thus  far  the  experiments  in  this 
respect  have  failed,  and  they  will  not  soon  be 
renewed.  The  efforts  of  his  most  powerful  ally, 
Great  Britain,  to  promote  that  object,  have 
already  cost  her  people  many  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars ;  with  total  failure  as  a  reward 
for  her  zeal.  One-sixth  of  the  colored  people  of 
the  United  States  are  free ;  but  they  shun  the 
cotton  regions,  and  have  been  instructed  to  detest 
emigration  to  Liberia.  Their  improvement  has 
not  been  such  as  was  anticipated ;  and  their  more 
rapid  advancement  cannot  be  expected,  while 
they  remain  in  the  country.  The  free  colored 
people  of  the  West  Indies,  can  no  longer  be 
relied  on  to  furnish  tropical  products,  for  they 
are  fast  sinking  into  savage  indolence.  His 
MAJESTY,  KING  COTTON,  therefore,  is  forced  to 
continue  the  employment  of  his  slaves ;  and,  by 


COTTON  IS  KING.  187 

their  toil,  is  riding  on,  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer !  He  receives  no  check  from  the  cries  of 
the  oppressed,  while  the  citizens  of  the  world 
are  dragging  forward  his  chariot,  and  shouting 
aloud  his  praise ! 

KING  COTTON  is  a  profound  statesman,  and 
knows  what  measures  will  l^est  sustain  his  throne. 
He  is  an  acute  mental  philosopher,  acquainted 
with  the  secret  springs  of  human  action,  and 
accurately  perceives  who  will  hest  promote  his 
aims.  He  has  no  evidence  that  colored  men  can 
grow  his  cotton,  but  in  the  capacity  of  slaves. 
It  is  his  policy,  therefore,  to  defeat  all  schemes 
of  emancipation.  To  do  this,  he  stirs  up  such 
agitations  as  lure  his  enemies  into  measures 
that  will  do  him  no  injury.  The  venal  politician 
is  always  at  his  call,  and  assumes  the  form  of 
saint  or  sinner,  as  the  service  may  demand. 
Nor  does  he  overlook  the  enthusiast,  engaged  in 
Quixotic  endeavors  for  the  relief  of  suffering 
humanity,  hut  influences  him  to  advocate  meas- 
ures which  tend  to  tighten,  instead  of  loosing 
the  bands  of  Slavery.  Or,  if  he  cannot  be  se- 
duced into  the  support  of  such  schemes,  he  is 


188  COTTON  IS  KING. 

beguiled  into  efforts  that  waste  his  strength  on 
objects  the  most  impracticable  —  so  that  Slavery 
receives  no  damage  from  the  exuberance  of  his 
philanthropy.  But  should  such  a  one,  perceiv- 
ing the  futility  of  his  labors,  and  the  evils  of 
his  course,  make  an  attempt  to  avert  the  conse- 
quences ;  while  he  is  doing  this,  some  new  recruit, 
pushed  forward  into  his  former  place,  charges 
him  with  lukewarmness,  or  Pro-slavery  senti- 
ments, destroys  his  influence  with  the  public, 
keeps  alive  the  delusions,  and  sustains  the  su- 
premacy of  KING  COTTON  in  the  world. 

In  speaking  of  the  economical  connections  of 
Slavery  with  the  other  material  interests  of  the 
world,  we  have  called  it  a  tri-partite  alliance.  It 
is  more  than  this.  It  is  quadruple.  Its  struc- 
ture includes  four  parties,  arranged  thus:  The 
Western  Agriculturists ;  the  Southern  Planters  ; 
the  English  Manufacturers ;  and  the  American 
Abolitionists !  By  this  arrangement,  the  Abo- 
litionists do  not  stand  in  direct  contact  with 
Slavery: — they  imagine,  therefore,  that  they 
have  clean  hands  and  pure  hearts,  so  far  as  sus- 
taining the  system  is  concerned  But  they,  no 


COTTON  IS   KING.  189 

less  than  their  allies,  aid  in  promoting  the  in- 
terests of  Slavery.  Their  sympathies  are  with 
England  on  the  Slavery  question,  and  they  very 
naturally  incline  to  agree  with  her  on  other 
points.  She  advocates  Free  Trade.,  as  essential 
to  her  manufactures  and  commerce ;  and  they  do 
the  same,  not  waiting  to  inquire  into  its  bear- 
ings upon  American  Slavery.  We  refer  now  to 
the  people,  not  to  their  leaders,  whose  integrity 
we  choose  not  to  indorse.  The  Free  Trade  and 
Protective  Systems,  in  their  bearings  upon 
Slavery^  are  so  well  understood,  that  no  man  of 
general  reading,  especially  an  editor,  who  pro- 
fesses Anti-Slavery  sentiments,  at  the  same  time 
advocating  Free  Trade,  will  ever  convince  men 
of  intelligence,  pretend  what  he  may,  that  he  is 
not  either  woefully  perverted  in  his  judgment, 
or  emphatically,  a  "  dough-face  "  in  disguise ! 
England,  we  were  about  to  say,  is  in  alliance 
with  the  cotton  planter,  to  whose  prosperity  Free 
Trade  is  indispensable.  Abolitionism  is  in  alli- 
ance with  England.  All  three  of  these  parties, 
then,  agree  in  their  support  of  the  Free  Trade 
policy.  It  needed  but  the  aid  of  the  Western 


190  COTTON   IS  KING. 

Farmer,  therefore,  to  give  permanency  to  this 
principle.  His  adhesion  has  heen  given,  the 
quadruple  alliance  -has  heen  perfected,  and 
Slavery  and  Free  Trade  nationalized! 

The  crisis  now  upon  the  country,  as  a  conse- 
quence of  Slavery  having  hecome  dominant, 
demands  that  the  highest  wisdom  should  he 
"brought  to  the  management  of  national  affairs. 
The  quacks  who  have  aided  in  producing  the 
malady,  and  who  have  the  effrontery  still  to 
claim  the  right  to  manage  the  case,  must  he 
dismissed.  The  men  who  mock  at  the  Political 
Economy  of  the  North,  and  have  assisted  in 
crushing  its  cherished  policy,  must  he  rehuked. 
Slavery,  nationalized,  can  now  he  managed  only  as 
a  national  concern.  It  can  now  he  aholished  only 
with  the  consent  of  those  who  sustain  it.  Their 
assent  can  he  gained  only  on  employing  other 
agents  to  meet  the  wants  it  now  supplies.  It 
must  he  superseded,  then,  if  at  all,  hy  means 
that  will  not  injuriously  affect  the  interests  of 
commerce  and  agriculture,  to  which  it  is  now  so 
important  an  auxiliary.  To  supply  the  demand 
for  tropical  products,  except  hy  the  present  mode, 


COTTON   IS  KING.  191 

is  not  the  work  of  a  day,  nor  of  a  generation. 
Should  the  influx  of  foreigners  continue,  such  a 
change  may  be  possible.  •  But  to  .effect  the 
transition  from  Slavery  to  Freedom,  on  princi- 
ples that  will  be  acceptable  to  the  parties  who 
control  the  question;  to  devise  and  successfully 
sustain  such  measures  as  will  produce  this  result ; 
must  be  left  to  statesmen  of  broader  views  and 
loftier  conceptions  than  are  to  be  found  among 
those  at  present  engaged  in  this  great  contro- 
versy. 

In  noticing  the  strategy  by  which  the  Aboli- 
tionists were  rendered  subservient  to  Slavery, 
through  the  ignorance  or  duplicity  of  their  lead- 
ers, we  refer  to  the  political  action,  only,  in 
which  they  were  induced  to  participate.  We 
yield  to  none  in  our  veneration  for  the  early 
Anti-Slavery  men,  whose  zeal  for  the  overthrow 
of  oppression,  and  the  relief  of  the  country  from 
its  greatest  curse,  was  kindled  at  the  altar  of  a 
pure  philanthropy ;  and  to  whom  official  honors 
and  emoluments  had  few  attractions.  We  intend 
not  to  disparage  such  men. 

Those  who  believe  that  Slavery  is  a  divine 


192  COTTON  IS  KING. 

institution,  which  should  be  perpetuated ;  as  well 
as  those  who  hold  the  sentiment,  that  it  is  a 
malum  in  se,  that  must  he  instantly  abandoned ; 
entertain  views  so  much  at  variance  with  the  prac- 
tical judgment  of  the  world,  that  they  can  never 
hope  to  see  their  principles  become  dominant. 
The  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  Slavery,  is  as 
repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  as  that  of 
the  divine  right  of  kings,  or  of  popes.  The  p$r  se 
doctrine,  more  plausible  at  first  view,  is  every- 
where practically  repudiated,  in  the  business 
transactions  of  the  world;  and  involves  those 
who  profess  it,  not  only  in  every-day  inconsis- 
tencies, but  bars  their  access  to  the  master  and 
dooms  the  slave  to  perpetual  ignorance. 

These  two  extreme  views  can  not  become  prev- 
alent ;  but  must  remain  circumscribed  within  the 
narrow  limits  to  which  they  have  been  hitherto 
confined.  It  is  well  for  the  country  that  it  is  so. 
These  parties  are  so  antagonistic,  that  their 
policy  has  harmonized  in  nothing  but  the  tri- 
umph of  Slavery,  and  the  increase  of  the  dangers 
of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

The  view,  that  Slavery  is  a  great  civil  and 


COTTON  IS  KING.  193 

social  evil,  identical  in  principle  with  despotism,  is 
beset  with  fewer  difficulties,  meets  with  less 
opposition,  and  is  likely  to  become  the  preva- 
lent belief  of  the  world.  This  view  maintains, 
that  Slavery  is  an  incubus,  pressing  on  humanity, 
like  despotism  in  any  other  form ;  and  sinful,  only, 
so  far  as  it  abuses  its  power.  This  liability  to 
abuse,  it  is  admitted,  is  increased  under  Ameri- 
can Slavery,  from  the  fact,  that  while  a  single 
despot  often  governs  many  millions  of  subjects, 
with  us,  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  mas- 
ters ruhs  over  but  three  millions  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  slaves :  subjecting  them,  not 
to  uniform  laws,  but  to  an  endless  diversity  of 
treatment,  as  benevolence  or  cupidity  may 
dictate. 

How  far  masters  in  general  escape  the  com- 
mission of  sin,  in  the  treatment  of  their  slaves, 
or  whether  any  are  free  from  guilt,  is  not  the 
point  at  issue,  in  this  view  of  Slavery.  The 
mere  possession  of  power  over  the  slave,  under 
the  sanction  of  law,  is  held  not  to  be  sinful ;  but, 
like  despotism,  may  be  used  for  the  good  of  the 

governed.    Here  arises  a  question  of  importance : 
16 


194  COTTON  IS  KING. 

Can  despotism  be  acknowledged,  by  Christians, 
as  a  lawful  form  of  government  ?  Those  who 
hold  the  view  of  slavery  under  consideration, 
answer  in  the  affirmative.  The  necessity  of  civil 
government,  they  say,  is  denied  by  none.  So- 
ciety can  not  exist  in  its  absence.  Kepublicanism 
can  be  sustained  only  where  the  majority  are 
intelligent  and  moral.  In  no  other  condition 
can  free  government  be  maintained.  Hence, 
despotism  establishes  itself,  of  necessity,  more  or 
less  absolutely,  over  an  ignorant  or  depraved 
people ;  obtaining  the  acquiescence  of  the  enlight- 
ened, by  offering  them  security  to  person  and  pro- 
perty. Few  nations,  indeed,  possess  moral  eleva- 
tion sufficient  to  maintain  republicanism.  Many 
have  tried  it;  have  failed,  and  relapsed  into 
despotism.  Eepublican  nations,  therefore,  must 
either  forego  all  intercourse  with  despotic  gov- 
ernments, or  acknowledge  them  to  be  lawful. 
This  can  be  done,  it  is  claimed,  without  being 
accountable  for  moral  evils  connected  with  their 
administration.  Elevated  examples  of  such  re- 
cognitions are  on  record.  Christ  paid  tribute  to 
Caesar;  and  Paul  admitted  the  validity  of  the 


COTTON  IS   KING.  195 

despotic  government  of  Eome.  with  its  thirty 
millions  of  slaves.  To  deny  the  lawfulness  of 
despotism,  and  yet  hold  intercourse  with  such 
governments,  is  as  inconsistent  as  to  hold  the 
per  se  doctrine,  in  regard  to  Slavery,  and  still 
continue  to  use  its  products.  Slavery  and  des- 
potism "being  identical  in  principle,  it  follows, 
that  the  considerations  which  justify  the  recog- 
nition of  the  one,  will  apply  equally  to  the  other. 
Another  thought,  in  this  connection,  crowds 
itself  upon  the  attention,  and  demands  a  hearing. 
Despotism,  though  recognized  as  lawful,  from 
necessity,  is  repugnant  to  enlightened  and  moral 
men.  The  notions  of  equity,  everywhere  pre- 
vailing, makes  them  revolt  at  the  idea  of  des- 
potism continuing  perpetually.  But  continue  it 
will,  in  one  form  or  another,  until  ignorance  is 
banished,  and  the  moral  elevation  of  mankind 
effected.  Hence  it  is,  that  Christian  philanthro- 
pists, clearly  comprehending  the  truth  on  this 
point,  have  labored,  unremittingly,  from  the 
days  of  JOHN  KNOX,  the  Scotch  reformer,  to  the 
present  moment,  to  promote  education  among 
the  people,  and  thus  prepare  them  for  the 


196  COTTON  IS  KING. 

enjoyment  of  civil  liberty.  Every  consideration, 
leading  Christian  men  to  labor  to  supersede  des- 
potism by  republicanism,  demands,  with  equal 
force,  that  Slavery  shall  be  superseded  by  Free- 
dom. There  is  an  advantage  gained,  it  is 
thought,  in  ranking  Slavery  and  despotism  as 
identical.  It  links  the  fate  of  the  one  with  that 
of  the  other.  None  but  fanatics,  however,  will 
attempt  to  reap  before  they  sow.  None  who 
comprehend  the  causes  of  the  failure  of  repub- 
licanism in  France,  and  of  emancipation  in  Hayti 
and  Jamaica,  will  desire  to  witness  a.  repetition 
of  the  tragedies  there  enacted.  The' benefits 
repaid  not  the  treasure  and  the  blood  they^pst. 
But  these  tragedies  have  taught  a  lesson  easily 
comprehended.  Moral  elevation  must  precede 
the  enjoyment  of  civil  privileges.  The  advance 
in  the  former,  must  be  the  measure  by  which  to 
regulate  the  grant  of  the  latter ;  otherwise  the 
safety  of  society  is  endangered.  Upon  these 
principles  most  of  the  States  have  acted,  in 
denying  to  the  Free  colored  people  an  equality 
of  political  rights.  It  is  a  conviction  of  this 
truth,  that  now  agitates  the  public  mind,  on  the 


COTTON  IS  KING.  197 

question  of  limiting  the  political  privileges  of 
foreigners,  who  may  hereafter  ask  the  rights  of 
citizenship;  and  begets  the  hostility,  among 
Americans,  to  excluding  the  Bible  from  Common 
Schools.  But  why  so  much  zeal,  it  is  asked,  for 
the  Bible  in  Common  Schools  ?  In  the  language 
of  another,  we,  in  turn,  would  ask : 

"  How  comes  it  that  that  little  volume,  com- 
posed by  humble  men  in  a  rude  age,  when  art 
and  science  were  but  in  their  childhood,  has 
exerted  more  influence  on  the  human  mind  and 
on  the  social  system,  than  all  the  other  books 
put  together  ?  Whence  conies  it  that  this  book 
has  achieved  such  marvelous  changes  in  the 
opinions  of  mankind  —  has  banished  idol  wor- 
ship —  has  abolished  infanticide  —  has  put  down 
polygamy  and  divorce  —  exalted  the  condition 
of  woman  —  raised  the  standard  of  public  mo- 
rality—  created  for  families  that  blessed  thing, 
a  Christian  home  —  and  produced  its  other  tri- 
umphs by  causing  benevolent  institutions,  open 
and  expansive,  to  spring  up  as  with  the  wand  of 
enchantment?  What  sort  of  a  book  is  this, 
that  even  the  winds  and  waves  of  human  passion 


198  COTTON   IS  KING. 

obey  it?  What  other  engine  of  social  im- 
provement has  operated  so  long,  and  yet  lost 
none  of  its  virtues  ?  Since  it  appeared,  many 
boasted  plans  of  amelioration  have  been  tried 
and  failed,  many  codes  of  jurisprudence  have 
arisen,  and  run  their  course,  and  expired.  Em- 
pire after  empire  has  been  launched  upon  the 
tide  of  time,  and  gone  down,  leaving  no  trace 
upon  the  waters.  But  this  book  is  still  going 
about  doing  good,  leaving  with  society  its  holy 
principles  —  cheering  the  sorrowful  with  its  con- 
solation —  strengthening  the  tempted  —  encour- 
aging the  patient  —  calming  the  troubled  spirit 
—  and  smoothing  the  pillow  of  death.  Can 
such  a  book  be  the  offspring  of  human  genius  ? 
Does  not  the  vastness  of  its  effects  demonstrate 
the  excellency  of  the  power  to  be  of  God  ?  " 

The  feeling  of  every  true  American,  on  this 
question,  may  be  thus  expressed  :  "  Bather  than 
have  my  offspring  deprived  of  free  access  to  the 
fountain  of  all  true  morality  —  rather  than  see 
the  children  of  my  country  deprived  of  the 
Bible  —  I  would  sacrifice  all  to  prevent  such  a 
calamity.  With  the  banishment  of  the  Bible 


COTTON   IS   KING.  199 

from  common-schools,  farewell  to  republicanism — 
farewell  to  morality — farewell  to  religion  ! " 

It  is  matter  of  rejoicing,  to  all  who  hold  these 
sentiments,  that  the  work  of  instruction,  among 
the  slaves,  under  the  supervision  of  several  of 
the  largest  religious  denominations  in  the  coun- 
try, is  progressing,  slowly,  it  may  he,  hut  suc- 
cessfully. The  Bihle  is  among  the  slaves  as  well 
as  the  masters.  The  presence  of  the  mission- 
ary, engaged  in  his  labor  of  love,  in  the  midst 
of  the  slave  population,  is  an  ample  demonstra- 
tion, that  the  master  recognizes  his  slave  as  an 
immortal  being,  with  a  soul  to  be  saved  or  lost. 
With  this  work  of  instruction,  increased  and 
perpetuated,  the  slave  will,  one  day,  reach  that 
point  of  moral  elevation,  when  his  bondage  may 
be  safely  superseded  by  freedom.  * 

But  what  of  the  Free  colored  people  ?  Their 
condition  and  prospects  are  before  the  reader. 
Their  agency  in  checking  emancipation,  when 
it  was  in  successful  progress,  has  become  history. 
Their  submission,  voluntarily,  to  become  "  hew- 
ers of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,"  is  a  melan- 
choly fact,  visible  to  all.  Whoever  projects  a 


200  COTTON  IS   KING. 

practicable  scheme  of  abolition,  that  will  again 
offer  inducements  to  general  emancipation,  and 
hasten  the  redemption  of  the  colored  race,  must 
include  in  his  measures,  as  the  first  and  radical 
principle,  the  elevation  of  those  already  free ! 
Accomplish  this,  and  more  than  half  the  work 
is  completed.  The  theater  for  such  an  achiev- 
ment  is  not  the  United  States.  It  is  Africa  — 
Liberia  !  Utopia  is  not  the  field  —  it  must  be 
abandoned.  Christian  men  at  the  South,  now 
hesitate  to  emancipate  their  slaves,  and  cast 
them,  helpless,  upon  the  frigid  charities  of  the 
North  !  But  let  Africa  be  once  redeemed,  let 
civilization  and  Christianity  spread  over  a  few 
millions  of  its  population,  and  the  moral  effect 
would  be  irresistible.  Every  rational  objection  to 
emancipation  would  be  at  an  end.  Every  Chris- 
tian master,  as  his  slaves  attained  sufficient 
moral  elevation,  would  say  to  them,  "  Brothers, 
go  free  ! " 


APPENDIX 


17 


(201) 


202 


APPENDIX. 


5  -5  o  8  §  S  -g 

g^s-s^ 


fc'S.S  S  <c'^^  -  2-c  2  q 


1 

1 


Ills 


His* 


STATISTICS. 


203 


"S-2 


CO  00  O  O 

i-H    CXI    O   CO 
CO  CO  O  C^ 

aTco'o  r-T 
oo  co  o  o 

i— I   «-*  O   CO 


§§§§ 

co  o  o  o 
co  o  oo 

t^  O  O  CO 

C^r-H^  00   CO 

CO^CO  CO  Oi 


0005COCO^OOOCOCOO 
b-COCOGOCOC^COCO<NO 

b- o  co  o  co  OC^T^OCO 
o6"oDio~c<foio~C?t>rcrrt>r 

05<MCOOOOb-iOCOb--^ 


t»  C5  Cq   CO 
CO  -       05  1C 


00 

r*<  O 
O  CO 


o 

^^^^^^^^05^^ 

i— i  co  05  co  O  c^  i— i  GO  ^  O5  ^ 
co  r-i  cq 


O  t>-  I-H  T— ( 

CO  CO  CO  CO 

«-H"CO  rf^O 
O  <M  »O  OO 

TH  i— i  co  co 


CO  CO 


CO  <M  CO  r-i 
CX|  CO  <M  CO 


b-coooooooooooooooco 


T-H    Cq    CO   -^ 
C5  C5  O5  Oi 


1C  CO  b-  00 

O5  O5  O5  O> 


204 


APPENDIX. 


cooo 


§0000000 


°§§ 


000000000000000 

oooooooooooooooooo 
o5Oo"ooo~ooooo"ooooo"o' 

QOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOO 

O  ^  00  O  CO 
O^  Oi  t>»  CO  F*" ( 
(N  i-H  rH  CO  OO 


t^  CO  O  O  CO  <M  O 
C^   t>»  CO  CO  C^  CO  ^d^ 


ooooocococo 


§§§§ 


t>-   i— I   O  TH   i— ICOCOI>.C^OrHOOl>'<NCO(NOi— I 

c6"co"co"o"co"r^o5"co"^c6"c^(^r^cooco>co"i>r 


OsOOOOOOOOOOi— IT-HI— IT— ii— ii— ii— < 
t>-oooooocooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 


STATISTICS. 


205 


l-v. 


I'O'IO'CD 
I  «C  *S 


I      ,  , w       ' 
4.  -a   .&< 

B  rf  .    .  fl  g  3  < 
3  SS! 


II ' 

•  «if  jffl^i ' 

:  HS^II  • 

"i  * 


to  »o  ^  cc  r^ 
<»  CM  co  co  CD 
co  co  t-  o  ;£ 

S'  ci  co"co"co'-*"3 
O  T-I  t~  O  CD  £2 


§O  IO  IO  O  CO   b-  IO 
O  O  O5   b-  CO  O  r-H 
OO"^OCMCDO5T^ 

oo~coio~coo5'o5xo'1 

OOO5b-CMCD^CO 
OGOCOCOb-CO-^lO 
GOb^^'^CO>CM'>CD''^ 
COCMCMTHb-^b-O 


CO  CD 
CD  CO 


O  t- 

05  CO 
10   CO 


CO  CM  O  O  O5  O 

b-   r-H_  CD    05_  05_  CO^ 

O5   IO"  GO"  b^  CO"  r-1 

b-   r— I    O5    r-H    IO  CO 

OS  CM   CO   b-  CO  CO 


0  "^ 

r-H    CD 


CD   CM   -*H  -rH   b-     CO 

b-  CM  CM  CO  CO    CM 
CM  CO  CO  CO  CO    ^H 


^0 

P.O 

so 


O  O 
O  O 


§§ 

-S05^ 

•§o 


00  IO 
I-H  CD 
10  CM 


§0 
o 

0^0 

CO~CD 
05  -^ 


o  o 


00 

co"  O" 
i— I   O 


§§§ 

000 

o"o  o 

CD  O  O 

co  CM  CD 


g§g§ 


o 

00 


§o  <M  cq 
O   05     CO 

O  O  CD    <M 


05  O 
O  CM 


CD   IO    O5   r-H    r-H 


o  o 

o  o 

t~  05 
C<f  CO 
CD  !>. 
<M  CM 


O  O  b~ 

O  O  O 
O  O  -^ 


t^  CO  CD  CO 
CO  O  CM  CD 
<M  CO  CO  CO 


O5  O 
rH   CM 

CO  CO 


CM  CO 
CM  CM 

00  CO 


CD  b- 

<M  (M 

00  CO 


GO  O5  O 
CM  (M  CO 
CO  CO  CO 


T-H    CM 

CO  CO 
CO  CO 


CO  ^H  IO  CD 
CO  CO  CO  CO 
CO  00  00  CO 


206 


APPENDIX. 


2 a Jill    i 

?  .3  3  •«  g  8        § 
IjPjJfl        | 


lillll 

'CS'3 


g«»    3 

^lage*  6 
a  .a    § 


S-Jj 
» 


S"|j  p  |  ^o" 


a   i 


H0»0          OOO^S^ 

Isss  Ss'arftf 


ss"3^  PHI 

-Isls  l^sal 


m  •  •  n 

«Sv«'      « 


^I-IP-I  eg     c5  CD  5  °  ° 

-ilfl  ei!^| 


iced 


O  OO  rH  O5  rH  O5  O5  O 
XOXOCOCOOOOCOb- 
OOSrHCMCDOCDCO 


GO  O5  rH  CM  rH  b*»  C^  (O 

XOrHb-OoOCOCOb- 

XOCMCMCDCOCMCMXO 


CO  OO 


b-  rH  CD  XO  b»  CO  rH 
CM  rH  CM  CO  CM  O5  rH 
XO  00  O  CO  05  O  rH 


CM 


00  O 
O  O 

T-H     O 


000 
000 
C^J  CO  Tt< 


o  o 
o 

O 


o 

iM 


o  o 


0000 

o  o  o  o 

0000 


00  00 

ST^ 
00 


b-    05   TJH 

00    CO    rH 
CO  CO  (M 


rH  CO 

CO  05 


O  b» 

CO   b- 


O  CO 

b-  cq 

XO  CD 


O  O  O  O 
CD  O  O  O 
rH  O  O  O 


GO  CO 
05  b* 

O5  CO 


CM  rH  CD  OO 
O  CM  O  rH 

CO  CO  CO  CD 


00  b- 


GO  05 
CO  CO 
00  00 


CO 
Tf 

00  00  00 


rh  10 
•^H  rH 
00  GO 


CO   b- 

rH  rH 
00  GO 


00  05  O  rH 
rH  rH  »O  XO 
GO  00  00  GO 


CM  CO 
1O  O 
00  00 


STATISTICS. 


207 


I 


..     «J 

11 

•§>  a 

&3          ?H 


8  g 
§  I 
^ 


^   I, 

3  .9 

2     ^ 

II 

8    >> 

|  | 

1  I 

*&      bD 

d 


208 


APPENDIX. 


Value  of  por 
home  cons 


CO  C5  O  CO  Ci  CO  ^ 

0  CO  <M  b-  -^  OO  i— I 
r-^  C<^  CO   CO  O5   r-^  00 

co"co"o  tCto'oo  ^T 

(M  O  XO  O5  i— i  O  CO 

ccT  oT  icT  co  t>^  o  c<f 

01  Oi  Tf  O   CO   OO  rH 
CO  (M  rH  Oq 


Total  Value  of  P 
Animal 


goooooo 

0000000 

00  00  00  O 

§000000 
^O  O  O  O  p^co^ 

O  O  CO  O  O  O  C<| 
O  O  ^f  CO  ^  O  i— i 

^  CO     r- 1  C^  i— I 


6 


t-   r-H    O    -*    i-H    t^   CO 
Oi  CO  t>-  d  O  i—  1  GO 

00  b^  CO  CO  O  GO  i—  I 


CO  CO 

t^  T^I 
o  cq 


CM   "^H   i—  1  TH 

o  oo  cs  co 
c^  o  »o 

CO"C<T  05 


STATISTICS. 


209 


O  i-i  CO  O  »O  TJH 
1O  CO  T^   05  O  CO 

o       o  t>co  t 


O5 


,-H    00   1O    t>-   05 

CO  CO  <M  -*±i  O 


-^  O  CO  O  O  O  O 
t^  O  <M  05  O  O  O 
OO  O  CO  t>-  O  O  O 


O  CO  10 
O  O^  00 

^  t^  co 


O  O 

O  O 

05  i>- 

«o  oo 
co 


o  o      o 

10  JO          1O 
CO  GO          GO 


^f   O5  CO 
(M  CO  COw 

co  10  o5^ 


»O  CM  t^ 

CO  »O   O 


10  CO  00 
05  r-H  1O 
rH  C<J  CO 


^ 


5  ~  &  a 

&0 


CO  r-< 

05  CO 
10^  CO 

CO  O 
•*  00 
1O  1O 

GO  00 


o  o 
o  o 
o  o 


o  o 

§0 
05 


CO  O5 
1O  rH 


o 

(M 


210 


APPENDIX. 


CO  05  O5 
CM  rH  CO 

GO  CO  XO 

GO  O  C<J 

(M  CO  CO 

§co  10 
CO  CO 

O5  O5  GO 

•^  ^  o 

O  CO  rH 

t^  rH  CO 

cq  oo  •* 

•^h1  O5  t>- 

CO  00  >O 
00  00  C<1 

oq^^  co^ 

r-T    r-T 
CO    CO 

m 

05  CO  CO 
O5  i—  1  1O 
rH  rH 

"*  GO  05 
CO  rH  O 

^  *O  CO 
05  GO  •* 

CO  O5  i—  1 
§CO  05 
-*  0 

00  O  O   00  CO  (M 
00  CO  CO   CO  CO  O 
GO  OO  rH   C<l  b-  -^H 

1OCOO5  COO5O  ^fc^t^  OC<l^i 
<MC010  05r-lrH  QOO5O  t^  rH  t- 
XO_rHO  OGOOO  CO  CO  r-^COCO 

lo'rH>C<r)O~         ^CO"         Co"1^         CO*" 


ERRATA. 

Page  36,  12th  line  from  top,  for  "  grapes  of  gall,"  read,  "  their  grapes 
are  grapes  of  gall." 

Pago  38, 12th  line  froin  top,  for  "  explaining,"  read,  "  exclaiming." 
Page  68,  8th  line  from  top,  for  "for  more"  read,  "  for  no  more." 


SIONITII  JO 
S^AINn 
1H1  JO 


